Ever since she was a little girl, senior Caty Arnold has participated in breast cancer races and walks where the proceeds go toward finding a cure for breast cancer. This year, she decided she wanted to do something else with a little help from her volleyball team. Each level of the girls’ volleyball team is holding an ace-a-thon this year, an idea Arnold came up with this summer.

“I went to Ecuador over the summer and it really inspired me to get more involved in my community and raise money for different things,” Arnold said. “They had mentioned to find other ways to raise money for people throughout your community and so this was just one of the ways that I thought would be really cool to get our volleyball team involved.”

The Ace-a-Thon will be held all throughout the volleyball season and to get involved, a person can either donate however much they want for every ace the teams get or donate money all at once. At the end of the year, all of the money will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Anybody around the school can donate and parents can get involved too. One parent in particular who has pledged is Caty’s mother, Cathy Politte, who will donate 25 cents for every ace.

“I am really proud of [Caty],” Politte said. “When I was 39, I lost my best friend to breast cancer, so I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for raising money for breast cancer awareness and for a cure. I think that it’s a great thing that’s been initiated by this year’s volleyball team, and I hope it’s something that continues every year.”

The team’s goal this year is to get 150 aces. The team will put up a banner tracking their success before their game against FHHS on Sept. 12th. The girls on the team believe that the ace-a-thon will not only help raise money for a good cause, but will also help the team perform better.

“I think [the ace-a-thon] has inspired people on the team to want us to get more aces because it goes toward a good cause,” sophomore Josie Santel said.

As of now, around 30 families and students have pledged money throughout the season, and Arnold hopes that even more people will continue to pledge money throughout the season.

“The ace-a-thon is really not that much money and it’s for a great cause,” Politte said. “The sooner we find a cure, the better and by pledging we can help that cause.”