Fundraising A Fall Tradition

October 19, 2017

The beginning of the school year is the prime time for fundraising, and every class except for the freshmen have started selling goods and materials to raise money for their classes.

When asked why the freshmen have not started their fundraising yet freshmen and junior class advisor Ashley Norris said, “Freshmen are unlike any other class in that officers are elected during the first marking period due to the transition between school buildings.  This means everything else is a bit delayed in comparison to upperclassmen.”

According to Norris, the class officers have a lot of responsibilities. “They brainstorm ideas and implement the fundraisers. The important part is to remember that the advisor’s responsibility is to advise student leaders not to dictate.”

Depending on what clubs and activities they have been involved in, the officers have different levels of experience with fundraising. No matter the level of experience, the officers still get a chance to choose which fundraisers are done.

Freshmen must start from scratch when fundraising this year. They come into the high school with no funds and will need to raise money for all of their future activities.

Sophomore class advisor Sarah Buttiens is proud of this years sophomores. She even said, “The sophomores are doing a fantastic job at fundraising already and have outsold last year’s sophomores in their two fundraising campaigns.”

The primary goal for sophomores is to raise a lot of money and bank it. This money will be used next year for prom.

Fundraisers can be a variety of things, but may not include games of chance as this falls under legal taxation and age requirements. As such, classes can’t sell scratch off prizes or play BINGO in school or do 50/50 raffles.

In addition, fundraisers have to abide by certain other rules such as food sales. Students are not permitted to sell unhealthy foods during the school day unless they complete a waiver. There are a limited amount of waivers available each year.

“Fundraisers usually work in two ways: either you get a percentage of sales or we sell a product for more than we purchased it for,” said Buttiens.

No New fundraisers can be implemented. If they are lacking money they just have to work harder to raise more.

In result of this being Buttiens’ first year as sophomore class advisor she chose to keep the fundraisers the same as they were the previous years. Usually, however, this choice is left to the class officers or student body.

Once the fundraisers are chosen students may sell to other students, teachers, family, and others in the community.

Even teachers contribute to the fundraisers. Buttiens said that she has bought flowers from seniors and a shirt from the sophomores. She also said that many teachers bought Yankee Candles from the sophomores.

Sophomore class officer Kathleen Pasta said that her views on fundraising have definitely changed since she became an officer. She now sees the importance.

When asked if she believed the sophomores were doing well she said yes but also voiced a concern. “I don’t know if we’ll reach our goal cause people still aren’t doing as much as they should,” Pasta said.

This years juniors will be raising money for prom and saving money for their future activities senior year.

The juniors’ first fundraiser this year was selling sandwiches. Later in the year they will be doing a Fisher’s Popcorn fundraiser and have multiple spirit nights.

Junior class officers are in charge of decisions, such as choosing fundraisers and deciding what is done with the money they earn. Officers also, “speak to the student body about the fundraisers and help promote them. They also make flyers and sort and distribute orders on an as needed basis,” said Norris.

Junior Brittany Kelley believes that her class is doing well and said she herself participates in many fundraisers. Kelley also stated that the candy fundraisers seem to be the most popular.

Senior class advisor Dyan Hulslander said that by senior year each class should have at least $25,000 in their account. This money is used to pay for the class trip and senior lock-in.

If students have not raised enough money, they will have to choose between a lock-in or a day trip. However, Hulslander said this has not happened in all her years of being class advisor. Buttiens corroborated as a former co-senior adviser that this has never occurred.

A lack of funds results in a harder and more expensive senior year. However, if the class does well and there is any extra money at the end of senior year, “it becomes their senior class gift and is donated to the cause the class chooses,” Hulslander said.

When asked what else students should know about fundraising Hulslander said, “Try to spread it out over your four years, and if everyone does a little, it makes a huge difference.  Many hands make light work! Then, by senior year, you will not have a huge obligation, and you will be looking forward to a great amount of fun and good times with your friends when May comes around!”

Students have expressed mixed feelings about their class fundraisers.

Senior Camden Baker was not very impressed with the seniors first fundraiser. He believes that the flower bulb fundraiser was “lame.” However, he is looking forward to the future candy box fundraiser and believes that it will be a big success as it has been in the past.

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