South Huntington Students Take Polar Plunge, Raise $10K For Make-A-Wish

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — A few inches of snow didn’t stop Silas Wood students and their principal, Stephen Toto, from jumping into the cold waters off Long Beach to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the South Huntington School District announced.

Team Silas Superstars braved the 35-degree air temperature and 41-degree water temperature on Feb. 9 for their sixth annual Polar Bear Plunge for Make-A-Wish. he overnight snowfall of three to five inches only added to the arctic atmosphere.

The Silas Wood plunge is part of the larger annual Long Beach Polar Bear Superbowl Splash
that celebrated its 25th anniversary this year of raising money for the charity that helps make wishes come true for critically ill children.

Thanks to pledges from the Silas Wood 6th Grade Center and South Huntington community, the Silas Superstars raised more than $10,500 this year. The team has raised on average about $10K each year it has participated, bringing their multi-year total to around $60K. And Toto has no intention of stopping there — he’s already planning for next year.

Despite the snowfall the night before, once it was determined the roads were safe and the plunge was still on, more than 30 students, their parents, Toto, and some Silas faculty members all headed to Long Beach for the 11:45 a.m. wintry dip.

"We're teaching the kids to be kind and compassionate and really respect others," Toto said. "And when we're doing this for a charity, like Make-A-Wish, where kids who are terminally ill are getting their wishes made based on the money that we're raising, it just makes it even more meaningful that we could make it happen despite the snowy weather."

Toto says it was probably the coldest plunge out of the last six years but the kids were still very excited.

"Normally I run and dive and usually stay in there for a half a minute," Toto said with a laugh. "But I ran in and ran out because it was that cold. But some kids went in multiple times. The water was actually the best part of the whole plunge. Being in the water was way warmer than being out of the water."

It’s not only the sixth grade students who get their feet wet. Toto says that every year, some of his former students who are now in Stimson Middle School or Walt Whitman High School, or younger students who aren’t in Silas Wood yet, sign up for the plunge. He’s happy to see the students challenge themselves by doing something they might not otherwise do.

"It's all about the experiences we give them here," Toto said. "And this is probably an experience that might be a little out of the box, might be a little wacky and crazy, and not something they would've maybe normally done. But it's something that they're going to remember for a long time. And it also builds that sense of family and community because the parents love it just as much as the kids do."