The Race for the Holidays

The Race for the Holidays 

A look into the battle for club fundraising during the holidays. 

Throughout the hallways of NHS, students zip from classroom to classroom. With nifty candygrams, lovely roses, and... a guitar. Students hop from class to class, calling out names and delivering gifts. It’s Valentine’s Day. And while some students see just another holiday, club fundraising teams see an opportunity. Hallways become engulfed in decorated pink fliers that serve as student advertisements.

Valentine’s Day isn’t special, though. Every holiday, clubs around the school compete in a race against one another, a race for fundraising events. Each club has different stakes and claims for each holiday.

"I’ve texted people in other student government clubs in order to plan my own fundraisers." Jazel Campomanes, president of the Latin Honor Society and treasurer of the HOSA."It’s very competitive because not everyone wants to purchase something from every club."

Every club must collaborate with one another and with fundraising, strategically planning their fundraisers to address various demands without stealing an idea. Some clubs, like Student Council bodies, have the most successful fundraiser, candygrams, reserved for holidays well before the actual date.

"Clubs and grades have things reserved in advance," says Sarah Nugiel, president of the Student Council. “Unless you’re in the middle of these clubs every day, you never truly know how much planning happens for these fundraisers. On the outside, you just look like you’re giving money to someone for a rose or candygram; but, a lot of time and effort goes into planning something like that."

Many clubs and organizations have adopted more innovative methods of fundraising.The choir created "sung telegrams," a unique twist on the popular candygram: instead of receiving a bag of candy, it’s a song that’s sung to the recipient by choir volunteers. 

"It was a unique way of fundraising that played to our strengths." says Uriel Concepcion, guitarist for the Sung Telegrams. “It was one of the ways that we could best break into the Valentine’s Day market while standing out."

Although this race has a finish line as the school year ends, these student-run fundraisers have a torch to pass on. The race for the holidays is a way for students to show their critical and creative thinking skills, and it will be interesting to see if the younger generation of clubs continues to adapt or if they pass out before the finish line.