Nicholas Marsella and Holden Tatem of Severna Park High School lead underclassmen and rally community members to get involved in fundraising for the Little League Challenger division
Severna Park, MD - The beginning of last spring in Severna Park, Maryland, at Severna Park High School, current seniors Holden Tatem and Nicholas Marsella started working to positively impact the Little League Challenger Baseball division in their community. With careful planning, they began collecting lightly used baseball equipment for the local athletes in the winter months of January and February of 2021, which lasted through May of this year. This has been part of their larger, personal service learning project at SPHS that consists of aiding and raising awareness for the Challenger Baseball chapter in Pasadena, M.D., at Lake Waterford Park, which gives special needs individuals a chance to get active while interacting with friends. Though Tatem and Marsella could not attend games in person due to the pandemic, they used their project to help the organization remotely and relied on social media outlets to get more eyes looking at the league. Their overall aim stayed true regardless of outside factors in their desire to assist the incredible Challenger athletes in their community.
The pair have worked together tirelessly to surpass their goal of raising thirty pieces of lightly used baseball equipment for the local athletes, as they were able to collect 32 items with outpouring support from their community. Nicholas, a varsity baseball athlete himself at Severna Park High School, knows the happiness the sport can bring to people. He described that, "The pandemic really has made it difficult to spread awareness in our community. This past year and a half have been anything but ordinary, but when we set out last year planning the project, we had a vision that we wanted to see through to fruition. We really wanted to help bring joy to the incredible athletes at our local division that do not get the attention they deserve for the hard work they put in daily." Nicholas and Holden have been able to spread word of their project through Instagram, as social media has truly been a helpful tool. Additionally, they were privileged with being able to reach out to some athletes personally through the course of the past several months by email and encourage them to keep working hard.
Though they have enjoyed much success and have been able to positively impact their local community, it could not have been possible without the tremendous support and training they received from the
Signature Leadership Institute at their high school. With over three years of experience under Mrs. Barnstead, Mrs. Chang, and Mrs. Colon, they were able to perfect their planning and leadership skills. The pair is extremely grateful for all the support and help they have received to get to the position they are at. For further information on this topic, please contact Nicholas Marsella by email at nick13.marsella@gmail.com, or Holden Tatem by email at tatemholden@gmail.com.
