Jamestown High School students raised $9,020.24 for the Rays The Barr Foundation as part of the 2024 Battle of the Classes held Wednesday at the McElrath Gymnasium at Jamestown High School.

Accepting the donation from members of the Jamestown High School student government were members of the family of Raylan Barr, who passed away in September at the age of 6 following a pool accident. The foundation is dedicated to teaching water safety to children.

“We are so grateful to the students of JHS and our local community for this donation,” said Sandy Arndt and Nicole Barr. “This donation will allow us to meet many of our goals this year which include providing free swimming lessons and personal flotation devices to small children right here in our community and also providing water safety education programs to children and families.”

The Senior Class of 2024 was declared the winner, raising $6,187.39 and also placing first in the skills competition for the third straight year. The Junior Class of 2025 raised $1,287, the Sophomore Class of 2026 raised $802.09, and the Sophomore Class of 2027 raised $501.

“Rays the Barr is an organization very close to us and other students in the building who were related to Raylan Barr,” said Sydney Maggio, Class of 2024 student council member. “We typically choose a local charity to directly benefit the Jamestown community for Battle of the Classes, and Rays the Barr is a perfect example because it is so recent and widespread in the area. As we approach summer, Rays the Barr plans to use our funds to promote local water safety for younger children and purchase flotation devices for kids in Jamestown.”