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Personal connection is impetus for Springstead student's diabetes awareness event

 
Springstead High School senior Kaylee Ritzenthaler, 18, helped raise $565 at her Nov. 14 event.
Springstead High School senior Kaylee Ritzenthaler, 18, helped raise $565 at her Nov. 14 event.
Published Nov. 25, 2015

SPRING HILL — Springstead High School senior Kaylee Ritzenthaler has lived with diabetes most of her life, diagnosed at age 2. So it was natural for her to consider that when she began work on her Creativity, Action and Service project, a requirement for the school's International Baccalaureate program, last school year.

"I was inspired to host it because Nov. 14 is National Diabetes Day," said Ritzenthaler, 18, "and Dr. Frederick Banting invented insulin, and Nov. 14 is his birthday."

Her diabetes-awareness event took place Nov. 14 on the Springstead track, and Ritzenthaler raised $565.10 for the American Diabetes Association.

"It took me a year to convince (principal) Mr. (Carmine) Rufa to let me use the field," she said.

She very much appreciated it when he agreed, and she said Rufa was a big supporter. She wrote a business format plan and got to work. She had to advertise, line up vendors and invite school clubs to have booths.

"I wrote donation letters and participation forms," she said. She had to collect prizes for a raffle.

To advertise, Ritzenthaler put a banner on the fence at the school's theater, hung posters around the school and announced her event on the school's morning show. Local businesses helped her, too. Printing business Sir Speedy put the event on its community advertisement flier and, she said, surprised her with signs about healthy eating, exercise and diabetes. Papa John's put announcements on its pizza boxes for a month before her event.

She received some special help from pre-IB history teacher Suzanne Miranda, IB history teacher and service project sponsor B. Wright, and Rufa.

"I convinced them to go in the dunk tank," Ritzenthaler said.

The school's Key Club had a face-painting table. The People to People Club had a soda ring toss. The National Honor Society handled the dunk tank, and the BETA Club had a snow cone booth with a sugar-free option.

There were community participants, including Superdogs, which brought a hotdog cart, and Papa John's, selling pizza. Dr. Donald Adamov, a podiatrist, was there. "As diabetics age, their feet start to go bad, and they require special orthopedic shoes," Ritzenthaler said.

Attendance was not great, she said, but she raised a respectable amount of money and learned a lot. For the most part, attendees had ties with the disease. Ritzenthaler said she met families that appreciated what she was doing.

One of her most satisfying moments was meeting a 5-year-old whose mother and grandmother are diabetic. The child told Ritzenthaler she wanted to cure diabetes.

It was a lot of work and a required project, but Ritzenthaler said she got a lot of personal satisfaction from the event.

"I finally got to give to an organization that has a personal connection to my own life," she said.

Ritzenthaler has applied to or is considering several small colleges. She has been accepted at Nova University, but is also looking at Stetson, Saint Leo, Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic universities. She plans to major in biomedicine. "I want to be a geriatric doctor," she said.