Many people around campus have heard the name Todd Rogers. Whether you happen to be a student in his weight class, one of his football players or a co-worker, you recognize who this man is, and what he now represents on campus.

However, after news that the coach was battling colon cancer broke in early January, PHS has stepped up as a community to immediately support Rogers and his family.

“I’m not surprised,” principal Dan Serrano states regarding  the support shown from Perry and CUSD as a whole. “I think [Rogers] was a little surprised, but yeah, it’s pretty awesome.”

Multiple fundraisers have been hosted in Rogers’ name, like the recent pancake breakfast and the “I Wear Blue for My Coach” t-shirts that junior Karli Higuera and P.E. teacher Lerina Johnson put together.

“Coach Rogers is my coach in weights and he used to coach my big brother in football before he graduated,” Higuera states fondly. “He is a family friend and I love being around him. He’s like a second dad and I felt like nothing was being done for him. It was just a simple idea to take a shirt and start selling it in support of his fight.”

Along with raising money for Rogers, teachers across the district have come together and donated their personal “sick time,” which is a time credit that allows teachers and other school employees to take time off for medical reasons, yet still have a paycheck.

This is a major achievement for Rogers because in order to donate, teachers must have a certain number of hours in their name before they can donate to others

Donna Murdock, Serrano’s assistant, says “When a teacher is going to be out six days or more, it’s considered a leave of absence. If you have the hours in your sick bank, you can be paid, and if you don’t then we can ask for people to donate their sick time, their hours, so you don’t miss a paycheck.”

Within the perry community alone, Roger’s has had over 700 hours donated in his name. Meaning he has over 87 days he won’t have to worry about missing paycheck.

“We were very successful,” Higuera says about her effort in helping Rogers. “We’re just going to keep it going into next year, and we’ll probably have the shirts on sale at football games. And I just wanted to say thank you to everyone. Everybody has no idea how much it means to him and his family.”