by Kelbe Flathers

As the shirt states, “Competitors on the court, Teammates off the court.”

During three weeks in January, the AHS Student Council sold t-shirts to the community and AHS student body to help raise money for Mitch Osborn. Osborn is Harlan’s head boys basketball coach that was diagnosed with lymphoma last year. Student Council decided to help him out with his fight against cancer and show support, even though Harlan is Atlantic’s unofficial biggest rival.

Senior Student Council member Erin Shannon said, “We sold ‘Beat Cancer’ shirts for $10 and helped J&J Custom Graphic Design printing of the shirts and delivery.” Student Council then gave half the proceeds to Osborn and the other half to J&J. These shirts were then worn at the boys’ home game against Harlan on Feb. 3, where Osborn also received a check for $1100. The Atlantic and Harlan boys teams also purchased the shirts and wore them as warm-ups.

Shannon said after the event, “It makes me feel pretty good because I know that we’re helping (Osborn) in one of the best ways possible, and it represents Atlantic High School in a positive way. It shows that we care about our fellow Hawkeye 10 members and want to help them out, no matter what.”

She also said she thinks the biggest thing the Student Council learned is that “really no matter how big our rivalry is, when someone like Osborn is facing this tough challenge, we need to be there and help.”

Shannon said,”If anyone in our community or the Hawkeye 10 conference is faced with a hard battle like Mitch’s, our school will try to step up and help out in some way.”