The boys and girls bowling teams began their annual bowl-a-thon at Park Lanes on Tuesday, Jan. 26, after it had been snowed out the week before. The bowl-a-thon will be finished at a later date.

The bowl-a-thon is a fundraiser that not only supports the bowling team, but also the Shawnee Storm Special Olympics bowling team and the Make-A-Wish club. Prior to the bowl-a-thon, each bowling team member was required to ask friends and family members to pledge certain amounts of money for the event. Donors could either pay a certain amount up front or they could pledge to pay a specific amount to the bowler for each pin that they knocked over during the course of three games.

According to senior Tyler Shurley, the bowl-a-thon would be beneficial to the team’s overall budget.

“[The team] isn’t given much money by the school, so we have to fund ourselves,” Shurley said. “The donations we get through the event help us eat meals when we’re on the road and things like that.”

Sophomore Tori Benson wanted the whole team to perform well in order to raise as much money as possible to allow those organizations to give people opportunities they would not otherwise have.

“[The goal] is to do well and add up big and you want everyone else to add up big,” Benson said. “I hope that the charities can use the money to go to events and do other stuff.”

Shurley enjoyed being part of the bowl-a-thon as it provided him with the opportunity to give back to the community.

“My favorite part of the bowl-a-thon is raising money for the local Special Olympics team,” Shurley said. “It is really rewarding to be able to do that for them.”