In an effort to raise awareness in regard to childhood cancer, Brookfield Central and Brookfield East High Schools teamed up to host the second annual Gold Out. Despite competing against each other in sports, students showed off their school pride and promoted awareness for childhood cancer by wearing gold and decorating various parts of the schools with gold streamers, posters, ribbons, and window art. This event began last year to honor BC teacher Dana Bowe’s infant son, Paxton Bowe Andrews, who lost the battle against cancer in 2012.

The same night of the Gold Out, the rivals Brookfield East and Central faced off at the East football field. Prior to the kickoff, the Brookfield Central FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) decided to organize and host a pre-game tailgate for the students. The main course was hot dogs, and although the student turnout was not huge, students still had a fun and social time, playing catch with each other as well as playing the classic game “cornhole”.
When asked about the thought behind the FCA tailgate, co-organizer Jennifer Jarecki (15’) said, “Our FCA leadership team came up with the idea of a tailgate because we were looking for more ways to bring our school together. We thought that a great time for this would be before the big BC vs. BE football game.”

Although the football game was held at East, it yielded a massive Brookfield Central student and parent section. Together, the schools united in a single cause by painting both sides of the field yellow. The football game concluded with a score of 24 – 20 in favor of the Brookfield East Spartans. Despite this loss, the success of the gold out as well as the ability of the two rival schools to come together for a unified cause held much more meaning that day.