SV student turns senior project into community festival
EVANS CITY — Every graduating senior at Seneca Valley Senior High School is tasked with completing a “graduation project” before they head to their next frontier. Initially, Ronny Royhab thought his senior project would be more low-key.
“They basically told us we could do whatever we wanted ... anything from doing job shadowing to putting on an event to learning a new skill,” Royhab said. “I was originally going to take the easy route and go to a lawyer’s office and see how it works, as my senior project.”
Then Royhab, 17, thought of his job at EDCO Park in Evans City, where he’d been working as a lifeguard for four years. The park had given so much to him, and now it was time to give back.
Over the weekend, Evans City residents got to see Royhab’s senior project take shape at EDCO Fest. The two-day event featured numerous live bands, carnival games, a bouncy castle, and a chance for patrons to dunk one of the park’s lifeguards.
The senior project itself was to raise money to start the event in the first place, which Royhab did mainly through attracting sponsorships. Royhab said it took nearly a year to plan EDCO Fest and raise enough money to get it off the ground.
“When the pool closed last year, I came up with this idea for a fundraiser to have a festival in the park,” Royhab said. “We ended up raising about $14,000 to fund this event.”
Much of the money raised during the event itself came through donations, as well as entries into various raffles and a basket raffle.
Royhab estimated roughly 50 to 60 people volunteered to help run the event on both days. These included Evans City Mayor Dean Zinkhann and his daughter, Ashlee, and borough supervisor Brad Rubinosky. The latter volunteered to be dunked into a tank by guests Saturday, May 18.
“We'll do anything we can to help out the lifeguard, since he's trying to help the pool raise money,” Rubinosky said. “We'll do as much as we can.”
“I think it’s going to have a great effect on the park, said Dean Zinkhann. “We needed the finances, and Ronny’s really stepped up to the plate for his senior project.”
EDCO Fest was the unofficial opening of EDCO Park for the season. The park’s pool opens for the summer on Friday. Zinkhann said believes EDCO Fest will bring more attention to both the park and the pool.
“A lot of people don’t know EDCO Park’s here, because we're sort of back here under trees,” Zinkhann said. “But we’ve got a big park in back of us here, and it’s going to open next week, and we're all good to go.”
While Royhab only planned to create one EDCO Fest, he is now convinced the event could become a permanent fixture in Evans City.
“Up until this weekend, I was thinking that this was going to be a one-time event,” Royhab said. “But after the weekend and all of the support by the community ... I feel like for the next couple of years we’re going to put this on again.”
