On March 24, LZHS will be hosting its first ever Hoops 4 Hearts competition.

“Hoops 4 Hearts is an event that we are putting on in order to raise money for the American Heart Association,” Julie Herber, Science teacher and co-sponsor of the Medical Sciences Club, said. “I know in years past [LZHS has held events] for the [AHA] but this is the first year that we’ve done Hoops 4 Hearts.”

Hoops 4 Hearts is a three-on-three basketball tournament that raises money as a part of the American Heart Challenge, “a service learning program [where] students raise funds and awareness for congenital heart defects, nutrition security, CPR training, mental well being, and more,” according to the AHA’s website.

While the program is sponsored by the AHA, it is hosted by the Medical Sciences Club, who are responsible for overseeing the event.

“The students are making decisions like: What are some of the rules we want? How long are the games? How many games do we want to have? How many teams do we allow to register? Do we want to design and sell T-shirts? What should the registration fee be?—All those things we’re letting the students handle,” Herber said. “They will also volunteer their time during their school day to help run the tournament and manage the scoreboard.”

This is not the first time the Medical Sciences Club has hosted or participated in an event; the club has done several in the past.

“We’ve helped contribute to the 12 Days of Giving and we volunteered at Feed My Starving Children throughout the school year,” Herber said. “Obviously, with COVID, It’s been a little rough being able to get out into the community, but hopefully we’ll be able to do a lot more now that restrictions are all lifted.”

The Hoops 4 Heart event will be held on March 24th in the main gym all day on Thursday, with all funds going to the AHA. Students can also donate through an app and receive prizes based on how much they donated.

“[It’ll] be a really fun event,” Herber said. “[Hoops 4 Hearts] is a way of getting kids invested in their heart health younger so that they can live longer, healthier lives.”