On November 26, Norwin students play the annual Powderpuff flag football games to raise money for the Toys for Pittsburgh Tikes Foundation. Coached by members of the football team, girls from grades 9 through 12 will compete with each other in flag football to see which grade comes out on top.
“I’m a coach for Powderpuff and I design the offensive plays along with (Colin) Bruno and Bando (Michael Crnkovic),” said senior football player and Powderpuff coach Michael Strutt.
After last year’s dominant performance by the class of 2025, the seniors will look to defend their title.
“The main reason I wanted to be involved in this fundraising event is helping towards a good cause,” said senior Brandi Brozeski. “The fun experience from last year was a key factor for me when deciding if I wanted to participate in this event again.”
Powderpuff has been going on at high schools since the 1970s, but the student-run event’s success over these last two years are accredited to the organizer and director, senior Miya Valecko.
“I do pretty much everything,” Valecko said. “I need to find somebody or a couple of people who are willing to take over next year because you need somebody who’s driven and responsible to organize something as big as this.”
Valecko’s role in Powderpuff comes with many responsibilities. Not only is she a player for the seniors, but she also organizes all of the teams. She gets everyone a T-shirt with their desired numbers, organizes food for the event, handles the financial side, organizes practice schedules, decides who’s coaching and who’s reffing, and she even covers the promotion of the event on social media.
“I would just say my favorite part is creating a collective environment of different types of students,” said Valecko. “Also, the charity that I donate to, they’re wonderful people. I feel like my time is really worth it because of them, and I know how much they truly do to help their foundation.”
The event is held as a fundraiser, and all of the profits go to the Toys for Pittsburgh Tikes Foundation. Their goal is to provide less fortunate children with Christmas presents that their families may not be able to afford.
“Victims of unfair circumstances beyond their control, these kids deserve to experience the same level of excitement as their more fortunate peers,” the foundation’s website states.
With Valecko graduating after this year, the future of the event at Norwin comes into question. Who’s going to take over a job this large?
“The goal is to hopefully find someone by the end of my senior year to take this so I can hand down all the information and resources that I’ve used to organize it,” said Valecko.
Anyone can donate to this incredible cause by just visiting the website and clicking “Donate Now.” The event does a great job of raising money, but every cent counts.
