The theme to this year’s popular Battle of the Classes at Carle Place High School was “Be sun safe. Be sun smart!” The annual tournament pits the four grades against each other in a fun athletic and academic competition, while students raise money for a different charity selected by the kids each year. The nonprofit the students selected this year is the Colette Coyne Melanoma Awareness Campaign, a Long Island-based skin cancer awareness organization. To help encourage their charitable efforts and boost the money the charity receives, Altice Connects’ Charity Champions provided seed money for their fund-raising activities as well as a $1,000 donation to the Campaign. This is Carle Places second year in the program.

When asked why they chose this organization, Maddalena Buffalino, Carle Place High School teacher and Key Club Advisor said “We are fundraising tonight for melanoma awareness because we lost two people that are related to our school last year to melanoma.” Meanwhile, Pragna Krishnamurthy, a Carle Place High School junior and president of the Key Club, said “The money that is going towards this organization promotes a message. There aren’t a lot of skin cancer organizations out there and the fact that we can give back to something that hits so close to home is very nice.”