Port Chester High School senior Dayellyn Mocha (right) gets ready to throw a mini basketball into a hoop as senior Christian Ceja looks on before his turn at their school’s annual carnival on Thursday, Oct. 7, in front of the building. The fundraiser, founded in 2017, is back in full force after being cancelled in 2019 and 2020 due to rain and COVID-19.
Junior Madeline Saunders (left) and senior Michelle Zapata run away after hitting the dunk tank target with their hands instead of a baseball, jokingly cheating to get high school English teacher Rich Laconi to fall in. Students ran various stations around the flagpole plaza, giving away prizes and taking tickets in exchange for fun.
Senior Amir Jouda (front) plays ping-pong while sporting a Rams t-shirt and facing off against Anton Raskin, ping-pong club advisor and high school math teacher.
Port Chester Middle School seventh-grader Isaac Robles tosses a dart at some balloons with his younger sister John F. Kennedy School first-grader Monserrat (center) and his mother Cecilia (right) cheering by his side. A fan base forms around him of the high schoolers hosting the game and those waiting to play.
English teacher Greg Guarino hoarded his tickets to get his colleague, fellow English teacher Rich Laconi, to fall into the dunk tank pool. “I told you I pitched in high school, right?” Guarino shouted to the victim.
Social studies teacher Jeffrey Kravitz, a founder of the annual event, loads the big screen TV raffle prize into the trunk of the winner’s car. “This is our welcome back after COVID and people being separated,” Kravitz said of the event. “We want to bring people together again.”
The DJ’s music stops and the festival concludes with a traditional Guatemalan dance to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month.
Port Chester High School Class of 2019 alumna Erika Rojas helps deliver burgers from the cooks, Assistant Principal Juan Sanchez (right) and social studies teacher Anthony Piro, to hungry customers.
English teacher Rich Laconi’s son Charlie takes aim to get his father to fall into the tank of water.
High School freshman Karen Estrada (left) and seniors Maria Guifarro and Stefany Cortez pose as they wait for carnival-goers to try their hand at the toilet paper toss.
Students gather as high school math and computer science teacher Caitlin Maggi sits on the platform, soaking wet, ready to be dunked yet again.
Social studies teacher Jeffrey Kravitz holds up a peace sign while wearing a fanny pack that says “squad” on it.
High School Principal Luke Sotherden records a video of a traditional Guatemalan dancer on his cell phone.
