It all started 15 years ago when current Wayne Hills gymnastics head coach Cathy Peter and former Wayne Valley head coach Lesley Nugnes decided to raise money for breast cancer research.
For that first meet, held in October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the team created and hung a banner, wore pink leotards, and held a pasta party for the participants. The funds raised from those early meets were donated in honor of Sue Olsen, the wife of former Hills athletic director and football head coach Chris Olsen and mother of former Hills and NFL football player and current FOX analyst Greg Olsen.
Nugnes retired in 2014, and the first incarnation of the Flip for a Cause meet ended in 2016; however, Peter and the current Valley head coach, Carolyne Cappizzano, decided to bring back the Flip for a Cause meet in 2023 after both teams went through coaching changes, a gym floor repair at Hills, and COVID.
The first meet of the current incarnation of the Flip for a Cause meets was held at Wayne Valley High School in 2023 and honored former Valley student Rocco Sivolella, who lost his battle with leukemia in 2022 at age 15.
“Our first meet at Valley was for our friend Rocco Sivolella, so it held a special place in our hearts,” Cappizzano said of that meet. “We were honored to host a meet that would benefit the scholarship in his name that is given out to both a Valley and Hills senior each year.”
Since then, the Wayne schools have raised money for various organizations or causes that, to quote Peter, “hold a special place for the home team.” Past causes have included the Ken Palczewski Scholarship Fund, which honors a former Wayne Valley principal who passed away from cancer in 2025, Alex’s Lemonade Stand in honor of a daughter of a Wayne Hills teacher who was diagnosed with cancer, and the Rocco Sivolella Scholarship Fund.
This year, Hills and Valley will be raising funds to help support the National Brain Tumor Society and brain tumor research.
The funds raised will be in honor of one of Peter’s former Hills gymnasts, Samantha Weite, who graduated from Wayne Hills in 2023. Weite was diagnosed with a brain tumor in February of 2025 after going to the emergency room for a constant headache.
“It really means so much to my family and I,” Weite said. “Everything I went through was so hard and unexpected, but it’s great to see people come together for such an amazing cause.”
Weite added that the fact that her former team and coaches remembered her and are raising funds for this cause a few years after she graduated is an honor to her.
As part of their fundraising efforts, both teams are selling T-shirts and gray hearts, with gray being the color representing brain tumors, for people to write messages on. There is also a pasta party scheduled for both teams.
“I competed in the Wayne Hills gymnastics team for four seasons–Fall 2019 to Fall 2022,” Weite said. “It’s such a surreal feeling being a beneficiary of the meet now. It’s something that I would have never expected, but (I’m) extremely grateful for the support from my former team.”
“Gymnastics is a small community,” Peter said, adding, “We don’t see our teams (Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley) as rivals. We support each other, cheer each other on at meets. It’s a very unique sport.”
“I feel honored to be a part of such an important event,” said Cappizzano about coaching in the Flip for a Cause meet. “We hope to show our athletes that we can make a difference in our little corner of the world. We can do small events to remember our lost loved ones and to keep their memories alive. We also hope to raise awareness for each cause we fundraise for. Our girls rise to the occasion each time, making us proud.”
Peter concurred, adding, “This meet is so special. We look forward to it every year. One town, one cause.”
Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley will “flip for a cause” Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Wayne Hills High School. Anyone interested in donating to this year’s cause can visit Team Samantha’s New York Brain Tumor Walk Fundraiser page or the National Brain Tumor Society’s donation page.
