Class finance situation revealed

An unforgettable Prom and Senior Activity Day does not pay for itself. As the new school year sets in, each class is actively making efforts to find ways to raise money, so that by senior year , their class will have a great way of ending their high school career.

Classes have multiple ways to fundraise, from finding sponsors to selling goods at public events like dances and food fairs and each class has made a lot of progress through these means.

Accounting Clerk Barbara Lyons says, “One of the main ways each class has been raising money is through finding vendors like Jamba Juice to sponsor their classes. When people mention Aragon, those vendors usually donate a percentage of the profits made from the people who mentioned Aragon to the class they are sponsoring.”
This type of fundraising has recently been popular due to the fact that in-school fundraisers are limited.

Throughout their years in high school, each class fundraises until the end of their senior year when the money raised gets primarily spent on activities for Senior Activity Day. Prom, on the other hand, costs an average of $20,000 total and is covered entirely by its own ticket sales.

Leadership Teacher Catherine Williamson states, “Ticket prices are calculated to pay for Prom. This involves the seniors sitting down with me to go over the expenses and estimating how many students will attend. I usually refer to the number that attended last year. Thus, seniors should retain what money they had going into the Prom, and they usually end up with a profit.”

In some cases, when Prom and Senior Activity Day are over and paid for, the seniors still end up with a surplus in funds. They can either decide to spend the money on a gift back to the school or have more extravagant end of the year activities.

Whether or not they do spend it, the money is still designated towards the school, since any leftover money is donated to the Associated Student Body (ASB) to be used for the student body.

With the school year just beginning, each class has made healthy progress towards planning a successful financial year.

Sophomores, currently have $795.37 in their funds. Commenting on the way things were run last year, Sophomore Class Vice President Keaton Moe says, “By looking at previous funds, I do not think we started off the way we had wished. Even though we had some great officers and board members last year, the level of fundraising and class spirit wasn’t at the level we thought it could be.”

Moe explains, “Previously, the freshman class hosted many common restaurant fundraisers. This year we are planning to use the same type of methods, such as a possible movie-night or walk-a-thon.

With $1,284.32 in funds, the juniors have done well in raising money in the years past. Junior class treasurer Yuzo Makitani says, “The Class of 2012 raised around $400 freshman year and around $600 sophomore year … so our income is in pretty good shape so far.”

Juniors have many plans to make another year thrive. One of their main projects is to release Aragon’s first ever class sunglasses while also having more class-shirts coming in later in the year.

Like the juniors, seniors have done especially well throughout the years with a current balance of $2,964.13. Senior class president Amrit Saxena says, “Our class continued its traditional success and fundraised phenomenally well last year. Our fundraising strategies included restaurant fundraisers, lunch sales, after-school sales, and class t-shirt sales.”

Seeing that this is their last year in their high school career, seniors are focusing more on planning end of the year activities rather than concentrating solely on fundraising. “We are investing more time in planning Prom… and we plan to raise money as we traditionally have,” says Saxena.

While all the other classes are well on their way, the freshmen are just getting started. With freshman elections occurring not too long ago, the freshman student council has already figured out meetings and basic goals for their class.

Using the orientation as a jump start, Freshman Class President Patrick Lin states, “By the end of this year, we will hope to have held at least six fundraisers, and possibly have raised more than two hundred dollars through restaurant fundraisers, food sales, and maybe a fundraiser at the Ice Chalet.”

Lin also adds, “We have decided to utilize Facebook as a fast and efficient way to contact each other and arrange meetings.”

Moe, summing it up, says, “We are just getting started, but, already, we foresee success, so hopefully the positive momentum can carry us on throughout the rest of the year.”