The assembly on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, marked the beginning of homecoming week at East. Each year, the assembly repeats various traditions, including the introduction of the contestants for Pie-in-the-Eye.
Every year, staff members compete to raise money for a non-profit organization of their choice. Whoever raises the most money throughout the week gets pied in the face by students at the small games assembly. This year, the competition included two returning contestants: math teacher Bradley Kaplan and Spanish teacher Taylor Cyr. However, the competition also introduced a new challenger: special education teacher Jon Ryan.
The teacher who had the least amount of donations by the end of the week was Kaplan, receiving a total of $175. Kaplan has been raising money for leukemia research for multiple years now, “in honor of [his] cousin Pamela, who passed in 1982 from it.”
Cyr, who won last year’s competition, raised a total of $218 and was unable to continue her winning streak. Cyr was collecting donations for Project Purple, an organization that supports pancreatic cancer patients and funds cancer research. Project Purple also utilizes its funding to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer.
“I chose Project Purple in honor of both Mike Harland, my assistant basketball coach and beloved EHS dean’s assistant, and my cousin James, who both passed away of Pancreatic Cancer,” Cyr said.
This year’s winner ended up being Ryan, who raised a total of $230 for leukemia and lymphoma research in honor of his cousin.
“Honestly, I was shocked when I found out I won. I thought for my first year at East that I didn’t have the best odds of winning,” said Ryan, “I wanted to get involved here early to make a name for myself and winning was a huge surprise.”
Just like the winners before him, Ryan was pied in the face at the small games assembly on Thursday, September 25, 2025, by senior Julian Aguirre with senior Vincent Armato. After pie-in-the-eye was over he said, “I hope the students enjoyed the pie in the eye as much as I did! Here’s to going for a repeat next year!”
