Last Friday night, National Honor Society (NHS) held its third Midnight Mile at Center Grove High School, raising money for the Anna’s Celebration of Life Foundation. The event started at 9 p.m in the Student Activity Center with music, food, games and more. 

“I liked how we were raising money for those who need it most, and being able to spend time with friends,” junior Rylan Mullins said.

NHS sponsor Jessica Goodman, a math teacher at Center Grove, explained the importance of this event and why Center Grove is doing it.

“The Anna’s Celebration of Life Foundation was started by a student at Roncalli. She had a physical disability that kept her from being able to do other things that other kids her age could do like ride bikes,” Goodman said. “But instead of focusing on her disabilities, she wanted to help those kids be able to do all these cool things that she couldn’t, so she started this foundation to raise money for kids with disabilities.”

Being an NHS run event, many of the students that attended the event, including senior Ethan Stout, are members of NHS.

“I’m a member of NHS and I think it’s really good to be able to help people like this. It was a lot of fun tonight,” Stout said.

The event had activities like a kickball game, volleyball matches, spikeball games and even a rock, paper, scissors tournament to win tickets to Kings Island. It also provided pizza and drinks for students that attended. 

“This was an amazing event. Just being involved was great,” sophomore Brock Bailer said.

It was not just NHS students that attended. Mullins decided to come with a group of his friends from both in and out of Center Grove.

“I enjoyed the vibe and energy that the event was giving off,” Mullins said. “There were a lot of exciting things like basketball and spikeball to do and it was all for a good cause.”

As the clock neared midnight, students headed to the outdoor track with glow bracelets and glow sticks to walk or run a mile on the track. Overall, the Midnight Mile was able to raise over $3,000 for Anna’s Celebration of Life, which is the most Center Grove’s NHS chapter has ever raised for the charity. The money will be going to a student in the Center Grove district to pay for assistance that insurance will not. This event gave students the opportunity to hang out with friends while allowing them to support the Ann’s Celebration of Life Foundation.