The Knights' Pages - Bishop O'Connell High School

songs. “You could hear a pin drop when the’Gentlemen’ took the stage,” said one of thechaperones.Faculty members also pitched in to boostthe entertainment line-up. Science teacher,Nolan Britt, performed with The BlueJays, and music teacher, Laura Van Duzer,rocked the gym with The Understudies.Before the midnight hour, 99.5 DJ ChrisStyles took over the entertainment andbrought new excitement to the gym. “ChrisStyles engaged everyone in the room andhelped cap off a great event,” said seniorMichael Bonini.The final song at Superdance is alwaysBilly Joel’s “Piano Man.” This year theentire student body made a large circlearound the gym floor and swayed shoulderto shoulder as the dance came to a close.“In the end, it was one giant group hug,”said senior Shanna Ferrari.Wrapping UpThe final numbers for Superdanceare still being calculated as donationscontinue to stream in. At the end of thenight, the students reported a preliminarytotal of $112,000 which they hopewill continue to grow.To read more about Superdance, visitwww.superdance.org.Danny Bessette ’02 (far right) with his wife, Jackie Heppes Bessette ’03,and his parents (far left), John and Pat Bessette.Alumni Pitch InO’Connell alumni come back to the school to support Superdance every year, and totake a trip down memory lane. The Superdance committee sets up a special alumniroom decorated with t-shirts from past events. There alumni and their families met upwith old friends, enjoyed a snack and browsed through old yearbooks.Just a few miles down the road, a group of 2002-2003 graduates organized an off-sitealumni gathering as another way for alumni to show their support for those sufferingwith Cystic Fibrosis. At Arlington Rooftop in Clarendon, more than 250 alumni, familymembers and friends joined forces to support Danny Bessette ’02 and his personalfight against this disease. Danny recently spoke to O’Connell students letting themknow that he was facing a double lung transplant in the near future.“I am amazed by the generosity and support that was shown on Saturday to Dannyand his family,” said organizer Libby Muldoon ’03. “It is incredible to be part of theO’Connell community and to see this event continue to grow.”The alumni event raised more than $5,500 to be donated to the Children’s OrganTransplant Association (COTA) in honor of Danny Bessette. Follow his progress atwww.cotafordanielb.com.11