Tom Tolen / news@WHMI.com

Some 18 Brighton High School seniors took part in the Senior Survivor Week program last week. The activity was held from May 22-26 at the BHS campus.

This is the ninth year that BHS has had a Senior Survivor program. Thus far, the program has raised a total of $368,000 for various charities.

“We choose charities based on what we feel is needed in our community, such as ‘I Will Right Now’ and ‘Fund a Life’ and esophageal cancer,” says Kailey Kovacs, the business chair of Senior Survivor Week, who as such, deals with the merchants and business owners asking for donations and other kinds of support.

Kovacs says there are no clear-cut criteria for selection into the SSW program, although it is required that the student submit a video application and teacher recommendations are taken into consideration.

The week was full of activities for the seniors: Monday was a scavenger hunt, while Tuesday was “Water Day’ with races on paddle boards in the BHS pool water gun fights and Hungry Hippo games using dodge balls. Wednesday was “Baking Day” - with the teams given the ingredients for something to bake - only without a recipe. That was followed by Senior Sunset and a movie, with the various teams pushing carts full of food donated by volunteers.

On Thursday, the junior executive board hosted a lip synch battle between the teams in which the winner, Team Blue, won $500. Friday was the cleanup day.

What do the participants learn from the experience? “We learn a lot about what it means to to be a team member," Kovacs says. "All of this money is going toward a good cause, and it’s nice to give back to the community that’s raised us for 12 years. So I think it’s kind of learning how to give back, learning how to work with others, and just be part of something amazing.”

Organizers hope to raise $120,000 this year, but the final figures are not yet in.

2nd photo: Members of the 2023 BHS Senior Survivor teams and their National Honor Society advisers.