On November 30th, Ritenour High School participated in the Duct Tape Challenge, a viral challenge where a person is selected to be duct taped to a wall.

In the case of the school, every strip of tape was a dollar, and the money was donated to the school’s Adopt A Family. Adopt A Family is a Salvation Army project that collects donations to provide necessities as well as gifts for families especially around Christmas. Ritenour adopted a family recently because of the need displayed by families in the area. In total, $64 dollars was raised by all three lunches, and Mr. Ewing was successfully taped to the wall.

The two main students in charge, Diana Cervantes and E’mysha McGruder, were required to get approval from the sponsors and activities director, Mr. Nolen. Finding a person to be taped up was the real challenge, but Mr. Ewing was up to it because it was for a good cause.

“Leadership students came to me probably about a month before the duct tape challenge and asked me if I would be willing to be duct taped to the wall for Adopt A Family. They showed me pictures of teachers hanging on walls with duct tape and said ‘that could be you’. I said ‘okay, that would be fine’,” Ewing said
“Being duct taped to the wall isn’t as fun as it looks. It’s really hot and hard to breathe once you’re up there for awhile because the tape has to be really tight to keep you on the wall. You can’t scratch your nose, so I had a broom. Then the other thing is when you take away the crates, you sag. So then your whole body shifts, it kind of obstructs your airway a little bit. People were trying to tape my glasses to my face and they were kind of hurting, but it was for a good cause. It was fun seeing everybody taking selfies, so that part was good.”

Diana Cervantes and E’mysha McGruder had to plan out how to organize the event themselves, including who would be taped up, figuring out a location and a time to do it,

“We had to check with Mr. Ewing periodically leading up to date, and buy enough tape for day of, and we ended up using about 3-4 giant rolls of heavy duty tape. We had to have a money box ready for collection & giving change. Then we advertised at least week in advance with a banner, announcements, emails, etc,” Cervantes said.  “We were thinking of how to get the student body to want to participate to help a family out for the holidays, so we started looking for fundraisers to help a family in need in our district. This was something to get the student body involved while also being fun for everyone.”

Mr. Ewing would do it all again for any charitable cause.

“Anytime we have a fundraiser or a special challenge like that whether it be the zombie run or face painting or any of the things put on by KRHS or Leadership we always get a huge turnout at the event and huge support for the initiative so we’re gonna keep doing what we’re doing. Go Huskies!” Ewing said.