On Friday, October 13th, the Mountain Ridge staff will be facing off in a charity basketball game against the Glendale Police Department. All donations and proceeds from the game will go to the AZ Special Olympics, whose goal is to raise $5,000 through several of these charity games at local Glendale high schools. The AZ Special Olympics is an inclusive organization where athletes with intellectual disabilities are welcomed to play in a variety of sports. While this is the first year that Ridge has participated, similar events were previously hosted at Ironwood and Deer Valley.

Throughout the game, a wide range of student organizations will perform. The Ridge music department will show their talent, with a performance of the national anthem by the honor choir, in addition to a showing by the drumline. The student store will be selling concessions, and the student government will also be there, playing music and bringing the school spirit. The biggest event of the game will be the appearance of the Phoenix Suns’ gorilla, who is going to be dancing with the Ridge cheer team.

It will be an interesting matchup between the GPD and the Ridge staff. Officer Flannigan believes that “the teachers here should be pretty nervous,” because of a player on the GPD team who is well over 6 feet tall, and able to dunk. He thinks that the police department will be taking the win this time. However, the Ridge staff won’t be going down without a fight.

Cash donations are going to be taken at the door, and all Ridge students should plan on attending. The game will take place at 11:30 on a half day, just a week before homecoming. Lasting about an hour, the game is going to be filled with fun and school spirit, with the goal of raising the most money out of the participating schools.