A bustling SHS bake sale.

As most of you know, after school activities and other random clubs need money to operate. They need money to have advisors, to get sports gear, and even to rent fields. Pretty much everything that looks good on college resumes requires money. In today’s age, there just never seems to be enough to go around. Take the junior class for example. Not being an officer, I don’t know too much about our finances, but I understand that prom costs a lot. Trying to steer clear from the clichéd (and lame) dance in our gym, our class has to fundraise money for the space, the food, the music, the decorations, the photos, and pretty much everything else that will make the night memorable. There’s only one problem: there aren’t enough fundraisers in the world that would give us the money we would truly need to have everything to make the night something we actually wanted. Long story, short: All the traditional fundraisers aren’t making enough money in proportion to ALL the time and work spent in planning them.

1. The Problem with Bake Sales- Baking food in your kitchen at midnight for the next day’s bake sale use to be enough to bring in a lot of money for your club. Not anymore. Chances are unless you’re a cheerleader, whose bake sales look amazing and make ALOT of money (nobody knows how they do it), your bake sales have been probably been dying. Either nobody bakes, the food is just so bad that nobody wants to buy, or perhaps the location in the first floor hallway ruins your sales; something completely understandable because NOBODY EVER USES THAT HALLWAY (pardon me if you have White’s or Moynihan’s classes or just happen to be chatting with the guidance department. )This dying bake sale/fundraiser could perhaps be fixed if they were located in a part of the building that people actually visited, like the oh-so crowded 7^th floor!

1. The Problem with Car Washes- The next stereotypical fundraiser I would assume is car washes. Being involved in the music programs at SHS (with people who firmly believe in car wash fundraisers), I’ve been involved in quite a few. The first problem is finding a space to have a car wash that won’t charge for the water. Even if you can successfully find a location where you aren’t getting run over by traffic, many clubs don’t know how much to charge, so they raise prices too high and unfortunately end up driving away customers. Then, there’s always that $5 car wash down the street that everyone knows, including yourself, where the workers are doing much a better job for half the price of the group of kids you formed up. Not to mention, your neighbor Mother Nature might ruin the event and all the planning by smudging posters and delivering your potential customers  a free wash.

Honestly, between all the clubs and sports at Stamford High, I think all the different types of fundraiser have been tried. We clearly need new ones. Between selling coupon books, ads, retail store cards, and candy, nothing seems to be bringing in enough money, dough, or dinero.  Even selling spirit wear has its limits. I mean, who really needs five black sweatpants that say yet another “SHS (Random Sport) “in their closets? I know that I definitely don’t. The era of fundraisers that worked in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s is definitely over. With a new age of technology, we ought to find some new “revolutionary ideas” to raise a little bit of cash for our class and clubs. Junior Kerry Fahan prompted the idea of “Selling Seniors,” a chance for our grade as seniors to be sold to underclassmen as servants for the day. We could drive them around, carry their books, and maybe even do their work. Who knows?!? I was told though, that the idea was rejected because it was considered “slavery.”

Personally, I think its ideas like those that actually work. Whatever we do decide, it has to be soon, because prom and other events are right around the corner. And if I was an underclassman, I wouldn’t mind paying a couple extra bucks to order a few annoying seniors around for the day!