featured-image

Sloan Surprises Local Students

With a group of over 200 students at Rosa Parks-Edison Elementary School in Perry Township buzzing with energy on Wednesday afternoon, Fox Sports Indiana Broadcaster Chris Denari announced a special surprise for the school. Not only was he present to congratulate one student, Annah, who through the Pacers School Fundraising Program sold 117 tickets to Pacers games, but he brought along a special guest — Pacers guard Donald Sloan.

In the room adjacent to the cafeteria where the students waited, Donald Sloan was talking with Annah’s parents, Kim and Greg Wazniak, about what an impressive accomplishment winning the sales competition was. Especially since through the program, a portion of every ticket sold goes back to the school.

“I remember being that age and being excited to just have older people, even people from high school come talk to us,” Sloan explained. “So to have a professional athlete come in, I think that’s even better.”

The fundraising program works by having the kids and their parents use a pamphlet to sell tickets to select Pacers games. For each ticket sold, a portion goes back to the school, and at different plateaus of tickets sold, the students win prizes such as a Pacers clinch bag or a postgame meet-and-greet with Luis Scola. But Annah won the grand prize by selling the more tickets than anyone else, and as her reward, a Pacers player came to her school as a surprise for her and the rest of the students.

After the excitement grew to a fever pitch, Denari first called up Annah to the stage to congratulate her accomplishment. He then introduced Sloan, who walked to the stage accompanied by an applause usually reserved for the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Denari and Sloan did a brief Q&A about what it takes to make it to the NBA, discussing things like homework and dedication to a craft.

“What do you think now that you’re sitting next to an NBA player and we’re all here because of you?” Denari asked Annah.

“It’s awesome,” she replied with a wide smile.

After Sloan shared more advice with the group of kids about how to achieve their goals, such as staying out of the principal’s office, Annah and Sloan played a game of knockout with nine other kids while the whole school cheered them on.

Then it was off to another room where Annah got to have a bit more one-on-one time where Sloan with pizza provided by Papa John's.

For Sloan, the event was a win-win for everybody involved. The kids at Rose Parks-Edison got to meet a member of their favorite team, and when Sloan hears 117 cheers coming from the seats Annah sold, he’ll know exactly who to thank.