Jacer Brower was excited to dive in the lake under chilly conditions in his first appearance at the 13th Annual Polar Bear Plunge in the afternoon of March 6 in Jonesburg.

Then, the Montgomery County sophomore quickly found out how cold that lake was when he dove in.

“It was really cold, but it was fun,” Brower said.

Brower was one of 34 area high school students who participated in the Polar Bear Plunge, which was located at the residence of Jocelyn and Alan Schluss. Jocelyn Schluss is the Montgomery County R-II assistant superintendent. The participants were raising money for the Special Olympics.

“I was looking forward to it a lot,” Brower said. “A lot of people normally participate in this. I don’t think we had as many people participate this year, but it’s still quite a bit of people.”

There were 25 Montgomery County students and nine Wellsville-Middletown students at the event, which was sponsored by the Student Council groups of both schools. April McCown and Denise Rakers are the advisers of MCHS and W-M, respectively.

“I want to thank them because our community helps us out a lot with our fundraisers,” W-M sophomore Kristi Hager said. “There were so many people supporting us in the Pink Out game. It was great. I’m very proud of our community for how much they do for us because we are in a small town, but everyone helps out. It’s amazing.”

This year’s event was a successful one, raising $3,750. MCHS raised $2,550, while W-M raised $1,200. W-M sophomore Meagan Cripe was the top individual fundraiser with $345.

“It was nice supporting a good cause,” Brower said. “It was fun hanging out with the people and playing volleyball.”

Temperatures were in the mid-40s when the event started at 1 p.m. McCown said the Polar Bear Plunge was held in much worse conditions in the past.

“We had years where we had cut ice,” McCown said. “We feel blessed. Last year was beautiful, like 85 degrees, so it was more like a swim for the kids. The water was cold, but coming out wasn’t so bad. We used to do it in Mexico. It got to where pretty much our team was the only team they had, so they got rid of that one and moved it to Columbia. But they would cut ice so people could plunge.”

The Polar Bear Plunge, which first started in 2010 in Mexico, was held at the Schluss’ residence for the second year in a row.

“It was great,” Hager said. “I love the view. It’s just beautiful out here.”

The event started with students playing volleyball and cornhole and having hot dogs and s’mores. Then, the students were broken up into groups of at least three people for the plunge.

“You can walk in or you can run in,” McCown said. “We had a lot of freshmen this year. Even seeing it done, we should have sent the boys group first. We always kind of encourage them to go waist deep. If they want to go all the way under, they can.”

Brower was in the final group with senior Ethan Rakers and junior Adam Czerniewski, also from MCHS. All three of them decided to dive in the water.

“I didn’t know how deep it was, but I just ran and took off and hoped that I didn’t hit the rocks really quick, which I didn’t,” Brower said. “I made it all the way past the rocks.”

Hager said she had to battle through windy conditions once she got in the water.

“I expected it to be a lot warmer,” Hager said. “The day before, it was warm. But it wasn’t that bad.”

W-M participated in the Polar Bear Plunge for the first time.
“Denise and I worked together on other Student Council things,” McCown said. “We worked on the Pink Out game together. She mentioned that her kids were interested and I said, ‘You guys are more than welcome to come out and join us and get started.’ It worked out well. We have a good working relationship.”