Frank T. Aquilino ~Class of 97
At York College of Pennsylvania, alumnus Frank T. Aquilino ’97 was remembered with a memorial scholarship. He was a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald and perished on 9/11/2001. The 2011 Spartapalooza festival was dedicated in memory of Mr. Aquilino.
This year the Spartapalooza theme was class spirit. The freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors competed against each other for points to win “Best Class Spirit” award. The contests varied through-out Grumbaucher Stadium. Fieldhouse held a bounce house, dizzy bats races, velcro bounce wall, inflatable obstacle race, thunder stick decorating, $1 black and green festival t-shirts, a scavenger hunt, and much more.
At the swimming pool, the cardboard boat races excited the crowd of spectators. It didn’t matter who won and who lost….it was all about the boat. The boat that put on the best show. Float or sink, the crowd cheered in a frenzy. A personal favorite was Team “Diddy Dong Racing.” They were the winners of The Titanic Award for their dramatic cardboard vessel sinking to the bottom of the pool. This YCP team was all juniors: John Meyer, Ryan Hershey, Tom Powell and Mike Shaffer sacrificed their boat to take this win.
Team YCP USA participated in the cardboard boat races.
The tug of war between classes was fun but also a bit dangerous as the four classes snapped the rubber bands holding the ropes together. Determining who won was a challenge itself as the band broke, the sophomore class found themselves on the ground. The points didn’t really matter, having fun did.
I participated in the scavenger hunt which allowed me to meet new people on campus, outside of my scheduled classes. The game was to take pictures of what was on the list and I managed to find all the items. The most challenging was the Spartan Helmet which I learned was made by sophomore, Taylor Lapierre.
Lapierre was also in charge of the class spirit games. I participated in the games with my friend Phil Rearich. Phil and I had a great time attempting the sack race. I fell on my face trying to jump in a burlap sack but got right back up. The freshman team stole our bandana when we reached the three-legged race but we managed to get to the next leg of the race. With one shoe on and one off, I attempted leap frog with Phil and failed miserably. I needed a much shorter partner!
The event drew a large number of students, faculty and children to York Campus. It was a great day to show student spirit and remember a former student lost to terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers.
There was an endless buffet of food and sweet and drinks to keep everyone’s energy up for the afternoon through the evening. The festival ended around midnight with everyone exhausted!
Great times at YCP,
~P.
girlboxer1970 
Crazy college kids. Yes even u Pattie. Lol