Swine Week dare steals spotlight

Photo by: Will Gentry

Students at Edmond Memorial High School traditionally spend a week out of their school year fundraising for a charitable organization. This year, the event was outshone by a particular dare intended to raise money.

“We raised all of this money, all these good things, and one negative that someone’s upset about got on the news, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, well Swine Week is bad,’” Edmond Memorial alumnus and junior Bryan Leftwich said. “They don’t understand how much we’re actually doing.”

The three Edmond high schools participate in similar fundraising events, though not all at once. Each school takes a different week and raises money before donating to their chosen charity. The students put in large amounts of work in order to ensure the fundraiser, known as Swine Week, is a success.

“These kids work hard for two or three months doing this,” former Edmond Memorial teacher and current Oklahoma Christian adjunct professor Jacci Gantz said. “It’s a wonderful project that they do with a servant’s heart.”

Edmond Memorial alumnus and sophomore Devin Dobson was on the student council for two years and assisted during the fundraiser in that time.

“Swine Week is one of the greatest things that the Edmond schools put on,” Dobson said. “Everyone in the whole school, teachers and students, come together for a cause – to help people. It’s bigger than themselves and I think that that’s something you can’t learn in a classroom.”

According to some parents, however, Swine Week could stand to be a bit less “piggy.” Parents complained about one of the dares.

“We have these dares in the middle of our assemblies,” Leftwich said. “We have these people chugging gallons of milk and just throwing up because of it, and we had one my senior year where one guy licked vinegar off another guy’s chest or something.”

The purpose of the dares is to get the students excited and to help raise money. The controversial dare in question involved peanut butter spread into a boy’s armpits, followed by two girls who then voluntarily licked it off.

“I think that was unfortunate especially because it overshadowed everything else that happened that week,” Gantz said. “Would I condone that? No, for lots of different reasons; I found it disgusting. But we can’t let that one incident overshadow all the good that Swine Week does.”

Those familiar with Swine Week and its customs tend to agree that the focus on the dare detracted from the overall purpose of the fundraiser.

“I think these parents shouldn’t have been upset,” Leftwich said. “They should look at the bigger picture instead of singling it down to a specific thing and putting a negative light on this week that … most people don’t get to be a part of.”

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