Daemen faculty and students made a splash by participating in the 19th annual Buffalo Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics New York on Saturday, Dec. 6. 
Team captain and Assistant Professor in the Education department, Colleen Wilkinson, led the 22-member Wildcats team, including her 12-year-old daughter, in raising $12,255, enough to sponsor 24 athletes for the upcoming year.
The Wildcats team won the College Fundraising Challenge for the fifth straight year. In addition, Daemen Physician Assistant student Ava Johnston won the top fundraising student award for raising $5,434.
“I am incredibly proud of our students for embracing this event,” said Wilkinson. “While this event is for a wonderful cause, I also feel it intrinsically benefits our students as they begin to go into the classrooms and their careers and see children with disabilities as more than a sum of academics.”
Wilkinson started the Daemen Wildcats Polar Plunge team five years ago when she joined the education department. “I shed many happy tears on Saturday,” she said. “Despite the cold, I had nothing but warmth in my heart for the Daemen community and their continued support for this event.”