Published by Denton Publications, Inc.
The Sun NE/AJ • April 8, 2017 | 3
www.suncommunitynews.com
WCS students, school CEO accomplish aerial feats By Thom Randall
thom@suncommunitynews.com
WARRENSBURG — Students of Warrensburg High School saw their school district’s chief executive recently in a novel setting — they witnessed him taking on the role of a Ninja Warrior as he and a student-athlete worked together to ascend a dangling rope ladder into the rafters of the school’s lofty gymnasium. Through the school day on March 20, all high school students of grades 7 through 12 had the opportunity to experience the challenges presented by the school’s High Five course, which includes a hanging balance beam as well as a rock wall, a trapeze and the rope ladder which has its rungs spaced so far apart it requires students to assist each other as they scramble to the top, about 20-25 feet off the floor. Warrensburg Superintendent of Schools John Goralski, and senior athlete Britanny Frasier helped boost each other from one rung to another to get to the top and back down to solid ground. The challenging course is designed to develop teamwork, and agility as well as overcoming fear of heights while giving students the experience of accomplishing daunting physical challenges. Ninth grader Jesse Giron and others completed the “Leap of Faith,” as Goralski did last year. This challenge involves climbing a rock wall course, then jumping from a high perch to a trapeze, also 20-25 feet above the gym floor. Another challenge for the students, accomplished by Frasier and others in this year’s
session, was walking along the hanging balance beam, suspended about 20 feet above the floor. About an hour after Goralski completed his tandem climb, he said that said Frasier had asked him to join her in the challenge, and he decided to take it on. While many people of Goralski’s age wouldn’t dream of attempting such feats, it wasn’t out of the question for the school superintendent. Goralski not only exercises daily at the Glens Falls YMCA beginning at 5 a.m. — swimming, lifting weight or pedaling a stationery bicycle — but he’s quite active in other athletic activities. For years, he’s ridden in the Tour de Cure bicycling charity event, completing a 100mile course based in Saratoga Springs. Also, up until six years ago, he annually competed in Tupper Lake’s Tinman Triathlon’s Iron Man event, which consists of a 1.2 mile swim, followed by 56-miles of bicycling and completed by running a 13.1-mile course. During the late 2000s, Goralski was actively competing in Olympic-distance triathlons. School representatives this week said that Goralski was serving as a role model to the WCS students, showing them that despite being middle-aged, he has remained fit and agile. Goralski said Monday he enjoyed taking on the challenge of the High Five course. “I think it’s important for out students to see I’m another normal person,” he said. “We all have our respective jobs to do, but that doesn’t mean we cant have fun.”
Warrensburg’s Superintendent of Schools John Goralski and high school senior Britanny Frasier, pause as they strategize how they are going to boost each other from one rung of a suspended rope ladder to another in an ascent to the rafters of the high school gymnasium, 25 feet or so off the gym floor. The ladder climb was one of a half-dozen challenges students took on March 20 in the school’s High Five course, designed to develop teamwork, mutual trust and agility while helping students overcome fear of heights. Photo provided
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