THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180034
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
While Jason DeGutis battles the effects of chemotherapy, over at First Colonial High the jocks, the brains, the nerds, the band, the student council, the honor society, the grungers, the preps, the punks, the skaters, the surfers and the heads have united.
It started out as just a thing the senior class wanted to do.
But then it started to grow.
His guidance counselor, Marcia Gutnick, had approached the senior class sponsors, Dell Young and Lee Land, about raising money for Jason's treatment. They described Jason's situation to the seniors - very sick with no health insurance.
The weird thing was, almost none of the 1,600 students at First Colonial knew him. In school, Jason was the quiet guy who went about his business without making waves. Jason describes himself this way: ``Anyone who wants to be my friend will be my friend, anybody that talks back to me.''
Other than kids who remembered him from last fall's Battle of the Bands when his band, The Lost, helped raise money for homecoming, or those who knew him from the college-level art class he took, no one really knew who Jason was.
But that didn't matter. The plight of a fellow classmate was strong enough to blast through the rigid social structure that divides high schools everywhere.
Almost immediately ``Jason Jars'' started appearing in homerooms and in the cafeteria and the coins and the green started adding up.
``I've seen kids pop in a $10 bill, they don't even know him,'' said sophomore Max Sussman, 16, who is making handsome writing pens and donating profits to the fund and planning a baseball game fund-raiser. ``I don't even know him.''
Gutnick organized a silent auction of items donated by Lillian Vernon - where Jason's mother works - and others. The library donated a day's fines to the cause and an art teacher gave Jason paper and pens so he can draw while he's in the hospital. The Happy Club, a group that works with doctors who go overseas to perform surgery, will donate money from a concession stand at the school fashion show. There's talk of a fund-raising faculty baseball game.
``It's something that kind of unites everyone,'' said Amanda Baker, 18, a senior and student coordinator of the ``Jason Fund.'' ``We realize this could happen to anyone.''
In fact, Saturday has been proclaimed ``Jason DeGutis Day.'' A huge garage sale will be held at the school, with all proceeds going to Jason. The government classes will sell sweets baked by the catering classes.
Then, at the Oceanfront, students and teachers will brave the chill of the Atlantic Ocean. Sponsors will pay the plungers $1 for going in up to their ankles and $10 for going up to their heads. Senior class sponsor Lee Land has collected $700 in pledges.
``Hey Ms. Young, I'm detailing cars for Jason this weekend,'' a student said Wednesday as he cruised out of class.
It's like all of a sudden, being charitable is cool.
``They have found a part of themselves that they are happy to see, the part that is giving,'' Gutnick said.
The condition is contagious. Princess Anne High sent over a donation, and other Beach high schools are planning to get involved. When First Colonial senior Tiffany Watson came home from school in tears after hearing about Jason's condition, her mother, Rosemarie, decided to put a Jason Jar on her desk at the commonwealth's attorney's office in Virginia Beach.
Dr. Scott R. Morin, the Virginia Beach ear, nose and throat specialist who did Jason's biopsy, donated his services. Josten's donated his graduation cap, gown and announcements. And Strawbridge Skating Center will host two Jason nights.
But it's not just a money thing.
Now when Jason is at King's Daughters, his room is sort of teenager central. Senior Jacey Anderson, 18, a student leader and volunteer at King's Daughters, recently asked a bunch of people if they wanted to go see Jason.
``Some people who didn't know Jason thought that was totally wrong, like you just want to be his friend because he has cancer,'' Anderson said. ``I think that perspective is so wrong.''
Anderson and her friends went to visit Jason and stayed way past visiting hours.
Visits from kids who never talked to him at school seem ``awkward at first,'' Jason said, but that doesn't last more than a minute. Before long they are all laughing, cutting up, flipping through the pile of CDs that the disc jockeys from 96X brought over.
``It's overwhelming just how people have come to help me,'' Jason said. ``It's not just like a few people, it's just like everybody.'' by CNB