On Thursday, March 9, the UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) club hosted its Badminton for Charity tournament in the auditorium. Students paid $5 each for admission and formed 32 teams of two to three players to participate in the elimination-style competition. More than $600 was raised from the tournament and will be donated to the international humanitarian aid organization.
We did not realize how much traction the event would get and how popular badminton was at EHS!
— Ms. Erin Panepinto and Ms. Antonella Marhefka
“Badminton for Charity was not only a great way to raise money for charitable causes, but also a great way for people to come together and have fun,” said President Hyndavi Kakuru ‘23.
To raise awareness for the event, UNICEF hung posters around the school. Each class also received email reminders, as well as Google Classroom posts, and social media updates on the event. The club also worked with the National Art Honors Society to create a large poster to hang in the cafeteria.
The Event
Teams met up in the FNC GYM at 6 p.m. to get started. At first, all the teams warmed up while the brackets were being made. Then, the games began, and coaches carefully supervised matches and reported their scores. After scores were reported, advanced brackets were made. This continued until two teams were left to take on each other for the title of “champions.” In the final round, Team FYB (Jayesh kumar Chaurasia ‘23, Advay Kadam ‘23, Shivani Kinare ‘23, and Arjun Popat ‘23) emerged victorious over Team Waka Waka (Sahana Ali ‘23, Dhruvi Malusare ‘23, Sofia Correa ‘23, and Amna Irfan ‘23).
“I thoroughly enjoyed participating in Badminton for Charity. I had a good time with my team members and being able to play a sport I love, all to donate to charity,” said player Sara Nasrullah ‘25. “I enjoyed how they made the activity involve the school with donations for charity. My team had made it through the first round but lost the second, putting us in the losing round. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hear our team’s name and forfeited the match. I hope to go further next year, if this activity becomes an annual event.”
“We hope to grow the event even larger next year,” commented UNICEF advisors, Ms. Erin Panepinto and Ms. Antonella Marhefka. “Our favorite part was how excited and into the event the players were. Many even brought their own rackets from home! We did not realize how much traction the event would get and how popular badminton was at EHS!”
“I think Badminton for Charity was a good event to help raise money,” said Abi Adif ‘25. “Personally, I had fun and based on the mood, I think everyone else did too! I hope there will be another event!”
Idhika Turya, the event’s emcee, appreciated the inclusivity and the careful planning of the event.
“It was evident the board members put a lot of thought into the specifics of it, such as the brackets! The last few rounds got really intense and it was nice to see everyone band together and watch them go down,” said Idhika Turya ‘24.
UNICEF hopes to turn Badminton for Charity into a new annual EHS tradition.
