The crowd goes silent with anticipation. It’s the final game. The only sound in the gym is the faint swish of the cheerleader’s purple and silver pom poms. The last 20 seconds of the championship game at Storm Stomp 2013 all came down to two teams. Team Get Lucky, with sophomores Camille Keane, Maggie Keller, and Tess Pereira, and faculty team Sheer Madness, made up of Bob Lampen, Lance Younce, Andy Sheer, Maggie Smith and Eileen Johnson. After two hours of facing off with each of the 36 teams it all came down to two, shuffling and fighting their way in order to get the ball and score the winning shot.

With over 100 students and faculty in attendance cheering along the teams, laughing as their teachers and colleagues came out sporting costumes such as s’mores, saints, and egyptians just to name a few; the vibe in the gym was one of great enthusiasm. Student teams like freshmen Lucy Stofer, Margo Gerke, and Beth Borgmeyer took to the spirit of the event and came dressed as the popular Despicable Me minions. Other teams embraced the costume attire and went all out sporting outlandish characters and crazy wigs. With Middle School students from Sion’s Grade School in attendance the loud cheers echoed through the gym, encouraging participating teams to play harder for this charity basketball tournament.

Though the glamour and humor of the costumes and the luxury of the prizes may seem to be what Storm Stomp is all about, it actually has a deeper meaning. Scholarships are the real reason Storm Stomp exists. This fun activity is a way to raise tuition money for girls in need of help financially so that they can attend Sion. Last year Storm Stomp was able to provide a scholarship for six girls, and this year the goal was to bump that total up to seven, hopefully doable as the committee exceeded their $30,000 goal.

Every year this event is run by a committee of students. The committee consisted of seniors Madison Hummel, Ali Campbell, Margaret Schorgl, Claire Elbert and Maggie Keenen; juniors Ellie Stingley, Sarah Harris, Lexi Churchill, Elizabeth Shay and Lauren Groszek; and sophomores Olivia Dugan, Aden Mitiku, Stephanie Ostrander and Katie Pendergast. These girls, with help from the Director of Public Relations and Alumni Relations Lauren Golden, all sporting baby blue Storm Stomp T-shirts and directing the event, are the reason this unique Sion tradition can happen year after year.

“I joined the Storm Stomp committee because it was a good way to get involved with the Sion community and meet new people from the other grades,” Shay said. “This event is so much fun and I love seeing the unique and clever teams all going out for a good cause.”

As the last buzzer of the day shrieked, the championship score read 5 on the red side and 6 on the green side in big white numbers indicating Sheer Madness had won by just one point. The faculty team with their crazy wigs and fist pumping hands congratulated the runner ups as they proceeded over to the committee to claim their first place purple prize basket while the other team went up to receive theirs. Both baskets were filled with Sion shoppe merchandise and popular gift cards to places such as Starbucks, these baskets were not the only prizes won from Storm Stomp.

As feathers fell off costumes, and the door closed behind the last team, the real victory still was in the heart of the event.

“Knowing that I am working on something so meaningful is rewarding,” Golden said.  “This event was started by Sion students and to this day they still want to be on the committee and help their peers; they work five months out of the year to make Storm Stomp happen.”