November 30, 2016

CENTENARY UNIVERSITY’S SPORTS MANAGEMENT CLASS TO RAISE FUNDS FOR VARIOUS CHARITIES

Hackettstown, N.J., November 30, 2016 – Professor David Perricone’s freshmen Academic Foundations Course (AFC) titled “Introduction to Sports Management” will be hosting two fundraising events before the Fall 2016 semester comes to a close. The final project challenges students to use the marketing strategies and business skills they have learned throughout the semester to plan and facilitate events open to the Centenary University campus, as well as the local community.

As a class, the students were split into two committees and two foundations. Team Eric LeGrand of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and The Congenital Heart Defect Coalition (CHD) will benefit from these events.

Professor Perricone’s students will host a “Battle of the AFC Classes” from 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. on Monday, December 5, 2016 in the John M. Reeves Student Recreation Center that will benefit Team LeGrand of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Participating classes will play against one another in handball, four square, basketball, a three-point competition and various other activities.

The second event will be held from 7 to 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 8, 2016 in the John M. Reeves Student Recreation Center. It will be a 3v3 basketball tournament called “Shots for Izzy.” The funds raised from the tournament will be donated to CHD in honor of Isabella Sanabria. Isabella is team leader Nicholas LaDolcetta’s neighbor who was diagnosed with heart disease when she was born.

 “I have been to every charity event and walkathon put together for Isabella and many other children around the world,” says LaDolcetta. “I feel this event will be a great experience and should bring people together to have a great time for a good cause. The money will be going to the charity to help her, as well as other children.”

All admission fees will go directly to the respective causes. Registration for the “Battle of the AFC Classes” costs $2 per student if signed up in advance, or $3 at the door. Each team requires 5-7 people, and while classes are encouraged to attend as groups, all teammates do not have to be in the same class. For “Shots for Izzy,” each team can register for $12, or can sign up individually for $4 for each single walk-on player.

David Perricone, Assistant Professor of Sports Management at Centenary University, knows that the outcome of his class’s assignment resonates beyond the classroom walls.

“I am very pleased that my students will be making contributions to such worthy organizations”, he says. “This event-planning project gives the students an opportunity to get hands-on experience in the field while bringing the community together for great causes. It’s truly a winning situation for all involved.”

For more information, call (908) 852-1400, ext. 2357.

 About the Organizations

Eric LeGrand, a New Jersey native, suffered a severe spinal injury during a college football game in 2010. LeGrand had been a standout high school football player and went on to play for Rutgers University; it was during his junior year at Rutgers that LeGrand was injured on the field and ended up paralyzed from the neck down. In 2013, LeGrand partnered with The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to help spread awareness of spinal cord injuries as well as to contribute funding to research projects. LeGrand has engaged in numerous initiatives since his injury and even authored a book entitled, “BELIEVE: My Faith and the Tackle That Changed My Life” (2012).

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. Christopher Reeve was an actor and director who was paralyzed during an equestrian competition in 1995. Dana Reeve, a singer and actress, was married to Christopher and succeeded her husband as the foundation’s Chair of the Board of Directors after her husband’s death in 2004. After Dana passed away from lung cancer in 2006, the foundation was renamed to include her contributions to the cause. The couples’ children continue to be very involved in the foundation. Through international partnerships and events, The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is able to collaborate with causes like Team LeGrand to help individuals living with spinal cord injury and their families by supporting quality of life initiatives and emerging therapies.

As the largest organization in Northern New Jersey, the Congenital Heart Defect Coalition is a national nonprofit organization whose sole purpose is to improve the quality of life for children and adults born with heart disease, also known as a congenital heart defect or CHD. The organization focuses on two critical goals (1) to unite and support the families affected by CHD; and (2) to fund research to improve long-term care and outcomes. Wrapping around these two objectives is the need to increase national public awareness of the severity of congenital heart defects. CHD affects 1 in 100 babies born in the United States. While research offers the huge potential for improvement and prevention of heart disease, programs that support the community and hospitals deliver an immediate benefit to the families and children.

 About Centenary University

Founded in 1867 by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church, Centenary University’s academic program integrates a solid liberal arts foundation with a strong career orientation. This mix is designed to provide an educational experience that prepares students to succeed in the increasingly global and interdependent world.

Centenary University’s main campus is located in Hackettstown, N.J., with its equestrian facility in Washington Township (Morris County). The Centenary University School of Professional Studies offers degree programs in two locations: Parsippany and Edison, and at corporate sites throughout New Jersey. The School of International Programs recruits international students for study at Centenary and Centenary students for study abroad.