The first annual Newton North Puzzle Contest began on Monday, Feb. 13th to fundraise money for Dreamfar High School Marathon, a non-profit Massachusetts organization that trains high school students to run marathons.
The entry fee is $10 and students who submit correctly solved puzzle packs win prizes donated by local businesses such as Cabot’s, Sweet Tomatoes, and Rock Spot.
“I was trying to come up with ways to do some creative fundraising,” said math teacher Ethan Peritz, an advisor of the Dreamfar Club at North.“Since I love puzzles, one idea I had was to do a little puzzle contest. So I threw together seven original puzzles.”
He added, “They’re word puzzles, logic puzzles, and what I would describe as miscellaneous. Some of them you have to use the internet and poke around.”
Senior Stephanie Lam, a member of Dreamfar, is participating in the puzzle contest.”My friend and I are doing the puzzles together. Some of them are challenging and some are quick to understand. But they are a lot of fun. I like to have some brain teasers to do that isn’t related to school work.”
Senior Amanda Powers, a senior leader of the Dreamfar club, is also taking part in the contest. “I love word puzzles so I thought it was fun. I’m almost done with the solutions, I just have one more to solve,” she said.
Students will be able to compete until all prizes have been given out. Students who are interested in participating should email Peritz, message him on Schoology, or see him in room 420B.
The contest is part of a series of events that Peritz is organizing to raise enough money for Dreamfar to earn a spot in the Boston Marathon. Powers said, “In order to run the Boston Marathon, you either have to qualify with a very fast time or raise a lot of money for a charity.”
According to Peritz, he needs to raise a minimum of $8,000 for charity in order to run and Dreamfar will use the money to help “kids in lower income areas who may not be able to afford shoes, clothes, or the transportation to a running event.”
So far, Peritz has raised $4,000 through various social events and platforms. His next fundraising event is a Bluegrass concert on Saturday, March 18 at the Eliot Church in Newton.