Students at Black Hawk Middle School are raising money for a good cause and some entertainment.“Kids are raising money for the Special Olympics and to see me freeze my butt off,” said School Resource Officer Kevin Swofford with the Warrenton Police Department.Swofford is leading the Plunging Warriors team in the Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics event Feb. 24 at Creve Coeur Lake in Maryland Heights. The team includes Swofford, Wright City Police Officer Jeff Catron, teachers of the Warren County School District, and anyone 10 and older who wants to sign up.For Black Hawk Middle School students, though, the event at the lake is the culmination of events that start at their school. They will donate money to Special Olympics through the Plunging Warriors team until Feb. 22. On Feb. 23, they will be rewarded by seeing Swofford plunge into a feeding trough filled with ice and water.He said the students seem to enjoy it. A lot. Last year they did the same fundraising activity. Plunging the SRO was a donation motivator.“Last year we raised $684 in an eight-day period,” Swofford said. “Some kids get the money from their parents. Some pull it out of savings or their piggy banks. We had kids donate $40.”The students are excited to see adults take the plunge at the school. Swofford said the cold water can take someone’s breath away.After he takes the plunge in front of students at school, he heads to the big, outdoor event at Creve Coeur Lake the next day along with the rest of the team.Participants decide how deep they go into the water. Some go ankle deep. Others, like Swofford, choose total submersion.“You run in and you run out,” is his secret to surviving the plunge, he said. “You try to put your mind somewhere else. Like the beach. It’s about breathing, too. You take a breath as you’re going in, just like going into a pool.”To get involved with team Plunging Warriors, visit www.somo.org, follow the prompts to the Maryland Heights event and look for the Plunging Warriors team. Checks made out to Special Olympics of Missouri may be delivered to the Warrenton Police Department at 200 W. Booneslick Road in Warrenton.

Black Hawk Middle School students will raise money again this year to see School Resource Officer Kevin Swofford plunged into a trough of ice water. The money raised will go to Special Olympics. In this photo from 2017, Assistant Principal Brad Ross, Assistant Principal Mike McCann and  Swofford pose with Special Olympics athletes after McCann and Swofford took the plunge.

Record photo