The following is a press release:

When a group of seventh grade students at Wilbur-McMahon School looked for unique ways to raise money for the American Cancer Society, the students asked their physical education teacher Jason Ford if he’d help them out. Their idea? Duct tape their teacher to the wall!

Once Ford agreed, the seventh graders took their idea, plastered the school with posters and asked fellow students, teachers and staff to donate $1 to wear their favorite sports gear on Friday, May 11 or donate $2 for a strip of duct tape to adhere the teacher to the wall.

The donations came in all week. And on Friday, students, teachers and staff gathered in the gymnasium to take part in duct-taping Ford to the wall. As kids eagerly applied the duct tape to their teacher, who was wearing plastic garbage bags over his regular clothes, the multi-layered web of tape began to take shape. Once the last student placed his strip of tape on Ford, the chairs Ford stood on were removed and he hung on the wall like a fly caught in a spider web. The kids chanted “Mr. Ford! Mr. Ford!” over and over and were thrilled to see their teacher in such a sticky situation.

In the end, over 13 rolls of duct tape were used and the seventh grade students that are part of Phil’s Phans and the Queen’s Bees Relay for Life teams raised more than $961. The two teams will donate the money to the American Cancer Society as part of the 2012 Aquidneck Island Relay for Life event on Friday, May 18 at the Gaudet Middle School in Middletown.

For more information on the Relay for Life and these two teams, please click on the following link: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12National?fr_id=39915&pg=teamlist.

Thank you to all who supported this event through donations and to local vendors Humphrey’s Building Supply Center in Tiverton and Ace Hardware in Westport for donating duct tape.

Huge thanks to Heather Fitzgerald for putting this information together!