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Austintown has quite a night at Phantoms game
YOUNGSTOWN
Austintown had two reasons to be proud Friday during the Youngstown Phantoms’ game with Sioux Falls at the Covelli Centre.
First, there were the 120 students from the Fifth Grade Choir at Austintown Middle School, who were definitely on their game when it came to singing the national anthem before the puck drop.
“I’m excited but nervous,” said Ryan Wilt. “It’s cool to be singing for the Phantoms.”
He, Connor Reid and Dawson Sandlin like to sing, even the national anthem — Dawson doesn’t think it’s a hard song, even though those high notes in it are notoriously high.
The three say the Phantoms game is the first event they’ve ever sung for, and they’d practiced a lot.
“We start at the beginning of school with ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’” said
choir director Dan Forsberg. “It’s part of our daily warm-up.”
“Our big annual thing,” he continued, “is going down to PNC Park in May to sing for the Pirates.”
For Vince Colaluca, superintendent of Austintown schools, the national anthem was a proud moment. As president of Austintown Rotary Club, he had another reason to be proud.
The club had partnered with the Phantoms to sell 100 tickets to Friday’s game, with part of ticket sales going to Rotary International’s PolioPlus Fund. Canfield Rotary Club did the same.
The Rotary Club had a table at the Covelli Centre. Austintown Rotarian Mark Cole was the Rotarian on the Zamboni, Colaluca said, and Rotary’s District Governor, Phil Mariola, dropped the puck.
Mariola had presented the idea to the clubs of collaborating with the Phantoms to raise money to fight polio, Colaluca said.
Rotarians have helped immunize more than 2 billion children against polio in 122 countries since 1979, according to Rotary.org.
Colaluca said Rotary is known locally for philanthropy and also for social events, which made the Phantoms game a great fit. He said it was also a chance to support a local business — the Phantoms — and to support the Covelli Centre.