MATTAPOISETT — Old Rochester Regional Junior High School students stepped away from desks onto the dance floor on Tuesday, Sept. 24 for the school’s annual Booster Bash.

The event, hosted by school fundraising company Booster, allowed students to spend a chunk of time playing games, answering pop culture trivia questions and dancing while raising money for field trips and other benefits.

“[The Booster Bash] enables us to do programming that isn’t normally covered by the regular curriculum budget,” said Spanish teacher Carla Cafarella. “We’re able to offer field trips and supplement other activities.”

This rendition of the Booster Bash raised $12,141. Some lucky students took home prizes like gift cards all the way up to a drone or a Nintendo Switch.

Teachers reminisced as a digital wheel decided which classic songs students would dance to — such as the “Cha Cha Slide” and the “Macarena.”

Students, staff and the rest of the school community had been donating to the drive in recent weeks.

Games that students participated in including a broom-dropping contest — students let go of brooms to see whose broom could stay upright the longest— as well as scooping cotton balls into a bucket blindfolded and building a tower out of cups.

Lights were turned down and neon lights gave the room a glow-in-the-dark feel. 

“It’s nice to see them having a good time and it makes me laugh that just putting on a dance video can round them up and make them all do the same thing,” said Cafarella. “It’s a little bit of fun, and they probably don’t even realize all of the things they benefit from later that come from this event.”