By MADDY VITALE
Mikenzie Helphenstine, an adored and respected coach in Ocean City and longtime teacher at the Primary School, passed away on May 4, 2022, after a courageous and long hard fight against cancer.
Her strength, determination, love and zest of life was imparted on all those she coached on the field and taught in the classroom. The married mother of two, who died at just 43, touched so many lives that those who loved her vow to continue her legacy.
Helphenstine, who is survived by her husband, Clint Helphenstine, daughter, Andi, and son, Kyle, coached field hockey and lacrosse for Ocean City High School and field hockey in the Intermediate School.
On Wednesday, Primary School Principal Dr. Cathy Smith was presented with a check for $4,000 by those who created a fundraiser in Helphenstine’s memory to continue the work she helped start at the school’s community garden.
The check was presented by Helphenstine’s mother, Jane Custer, her sister, Tiffany Park, and teachers Carrie Merritt and Emily Gillian.
“The Primary School accepts this heartwarming and generous gift to keep the spirit and heart of Mikenzie alive through the love and support from the staff, students and community of Ocean City,” Smith said in an interview Wednesday.
Smith noted that teacher Sharon Naplacic leads the school with growing the garden and promoting healthy choices. In the summer, she does lessons around healthy recipes and healthy choices that the children pick from the garden and prepare themselves.
“This was all Mikenzie’s vision for this community,” Smith pointed out. “She was a big part of us, so we will continue to live with her spirit.”
The funds were raised through Rhythm & Ride Cycle Studio’s first ever “Ride for Mikenzie,” on Oct. 21 in Marmora.
“We raised $4,000 that is going towards the Mikenzie Helphenstine Helping Hands Garden at the Primary School,” Smith said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the love and support from the community and local businesses that generously donated.”
Jane Custer, Helphenstine’s mother, reflected on her daughter and one of her daughter’s favorite coaches, Duke University’s former longtime basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.
He said these words and they resonated with Helphenstine.
Krzyzewski said, “People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.”
Custer said that the quote “epitomizes all the hard work and dedication the teachers have put into that garden.”
“It is not only a reflection of my daughter’s vision, but it is a reflection of them as a school family,” she said. “Anyone in the Primary School will tell you she did not have a green thumb, but she had a vision to get everyone involved. That was her strength. That is the spirit that lives on.”
On May 31 of this year, the school honored Helphenstine by dedicating a bench in the garden in her memory.
Merritt, a Primary School teacher who was instrumental in the “Ride for Mikenzie,” spoke of the importance of remembering her colleague and friend and of the garden she helped create.
“I am proud and grateful to be involved in a cause so close to my heart. The Primary school garden is a place in which we get to remember our friend, Mikenzie, daily,” Merritt said. “The generosity of the community towards this cause is humbling. It truly illustrates the mark that Mikenzie left on our community.”
Two plaques hang on the walls at the Primary School forever serving as reminders of the impact Helphenstine made on the community.
One Smith made of a note written by Helphenstine to OCPS with the drawing of a heart and her signature.
“I had the plaque made with her writing and it is hung by the entrance of our mailroom so we see it every morning to make sure we know why we are here. We are here for our students,” Smith said.
Another plaque has a drawing of Peanuts cartoon characters. It is a memento Helphenstine left to the Primary School.
It reads: “The best feeling of happiness is when you’re happy because you’ve made someone else happy.”
Smith said the garden, the plaques, the memorial bench and now the cycling benefit held in Helphenstine’s name, that they all serve to help keep an extraordinary woman’s memory alive.
“There is no better way to go into this holiday season than to honor someone that we love and miss so much,” Smith said. “She challenged us to do more and be better for our students and our community.”
The memorial service for Helphenstine was held on May 12, 2022. It was standing room only at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Ocean City.
Helphenstine’s motto for each day, her mantra, was encapsulated in one song sang by 2022 Junior Miss Ocean City, Makenna Fleming, titled, “Till You Can’t.”
Part of the lyrics in the song told a bit of how Helphenstine lived her life:
If you got a chance, take it; take it while you got a chance
If you got a dream, chase it, ’cause a dream won’t chase you back
If you’re gonna love somebody
Hold ’em as long and as strong and as close as you can
‘Til you can’t
