York Town News
Thursday "Hoyt-A-Thon" will support YHS teacher battling cancer
By Melissa Wood
HOYT'S BOYS. Last week York High School seniors Peter Corey, Ben Forrest, Jake Moran, Cam McIntire and Giancarlo Desario paid a visit to teacher Jack Hoyt.
Courtesy photo
YORK - York High School senior Gene Jones said that there's been times he's chosen to take a class for the primary reason that Jack Hoyt was going to be the teacher.
"He was just really cool, and he taught me a lot," said Jones. "His classes were wicked fun."
This Thursday, May 31, the school will be holding a "Hoyt-A-Thon" to help raise money for Hoyt, 57, a longtime YHS industrial arts teacher who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in August.
In January he underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, and faces a difficult battle with the disease. He and his wife Colleen are also facing numerous expenses from the many doctors' visits and medications - and the gas and tolls to make those trips - while he deals with the side effects from the treatment.
"It's unbelievable - the money, the tokens, the gas," said YHS art teacher Gary Phipps, one of Hoyt's good friends.
He also said that Colleen has had to cut back to part-time hours, further reducing the family's budget, and must maintain the couple's farm, where they raise cattle for beef.
Thursday's fundraiser will include a dinner, silent and live auctions, and live music from two bands, including Johnny Wad and the Cash, whose members are York High School graduates. Phipps said that more than 60 items are available for bidding at the auctions including Red Sox tickets, antiques, artwork, quilts and dinners, to name a few.
The school is also holding a "Hats off for Hoyt" fundraiser where students who wear hats pay a $1 donation every Friday until the end of the school year.
Phipps said that many in town - or their children - have had Hoyt as a teacher.
"If you go into the community you see such a high respect for him," said Phipps.
The popular teacher has taught classes that include industrial technology, automotive, computer-aided design and even Downeast folk art for the past 26 years in York.
"Mr. Hoyt made quite an impression on some of our on-the-edge kids," agreed algebra teacher Sue Simoneau, who brought a group of "Hoyt's Boys" to visit their teacher at home last Thursday.
"It's fun, but you actually learned still," said senior Peter Corey of the classes he took with Hoyt. "It was a class you can actually use."
The Hoyt-A-Thon will be held at York High School from 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 31. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or by calling Barbara Moynahan at the high school at 363-3621.
