The premiere of the Reunion Special for Mars Area High School’s former Room 133 anti-bullying series (2012-2014) raised $2,450 to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The Reunion Special, which first aired Sept. 20 on Facebook and YouTube was produced in honor of Katie Nelson (Class of 2014) who played the role of Cecelia in the Room 133 series. Nelson, a graduate of Westminster College and a student in the Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine’s pre-professional scholar program, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in August 2019 and passed away in April 2020 at age 23.

“Katie brought people together with her kindness, her intelligence an her empathy,” says Lindsay Seipp (Class of 2014) in the introduction to the Reunion Special. “Even though we are all apart, we feel her presence bringing us together as we create this Reunion Special.”

Anyone still interested in contributing to the cause is asked to click on the “Donate” button at www.facebook.com/Room133Show/. All donations go directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Room 133 was introduced at Mars Area High School in 2012 to both entertain students and to deliver positive messages related to topics such as bullying, verbal and physical abuse, false rumors, etc. The series was created by showrunner T.J. Pieffer (Class of 2014) as a spoof of the television sitcom, The Office, and starred Pieffer as the main character, David, along with a who’s who of Mars Area High School’s Class of 2014 and various teachers and staff members.

The show quickly evolved from a bimonthly video series into a highly anticipated, school-wide phenomenon, spanning three seasons. (Episodes of Room 133 as well as the Reunion Special are available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/Room133show.) As interest grew, more and more students became involved in the production as well as in a myriad of other performances and positive school activities.

The cast and crew of Room 133, led by Pieffer and Shaffer, brought together the entire student body and high school staff members to create entries for a local “lip dub” contest. And, the students planned and performed summer stage productions of Batmann: The Musical (2013), which was written and performed by the students; Suessical: The Musical (2014); and Annie the Musical (2015).

For more information, visit www.youtube.com/user/Room133show.