Every few weeks at Aragon, new posters and announcements about upcoming fundraisers appear around school. These fundraisers help each class get the money to plan and organize events and are planned by the class council who work with different stores to bring the events into fruition.
“By the time [students] get to senior class, they need [money for] prom,” said leadership director Heather Stretch. “They want to be building up [money] as they’re going through their years … I don’t set a goal for [the amount they need to make, so] they set it for themselves.”
Fundraisers start as ideas from class council, and they are selected based on which venues are anticipated to be the most popular.
“[We] usually start [with] the class council getting together and thinking of an idea that we know will be successful and we know people will actually want,’’ said Class of 2024 treasurer Pate Teaupa. “For restaurant fundraisers, we know people would rather have Chipotle over something like Taco Bell.”
Choosing a restaurant that students would want to go to can determine how much class councils make from their fundraisers.
“We aim for the most popular restaurants because we want the most people to come”
“Obviously, we aim for the most popular restaurants because we want the most people to come,” said Class of 2023 secretary Angelo Bounthapanya. “[However,] we also factor in how much money they are willing to give back to us. If a place is willing to offer a higher percentage back, … that’s going to benefit us more than somewhere that is giving less. You need a balance between both popularity and revenue.”
Choosing the correct place can also impact how many students participate in the fundraiser.
“When we [have a fundraiser at] Pizza My Heart, one student might bring their family to eat and they’ll all buy pizza,” Bounthapanya said.
Not all students, however, do decide to participate in fundraisers.
“I would say maybe what stops [students] from going is not liking food or not caring about class funds,” said Class of 2025 treasurer Juliette Szwarcberg.
Class of 2025 President Dragon Cai has a different opinion on why some students do not attend the fundraisers.
“Sometimes people won’t come because of schedule issues,” Cai said. “They might have practice or classes. But I think a lot of people do go to support our class and get something to eat.”
Another reason why people may not go to the fundraisers may be due to a lack of promotion.
“More awareness is great for fundraisers”
“I just don’t think some people hear about it enough,’’ Teaupa said. “Maybe [they] don’t see [the] live announcements or the [posts on the] Canvas dashboard … I think more awareness is great for fundraisers.”
Class council is working to address these issues.
“I’m working with our freshman class council to improve our marketing skills so that we’re able to get the word out to more people,” said Class of 2026 treasurer Darrin O’Brien.
Students are highly encouraged to participate in these fundraisers since the money goes back directly to the respective class that hosted the event.
“We use [the money] for giving back to the community,” Teaupa said. “We use it for planning events like our senior [homecoming], prom and [other activities].”
Class of 2026 president Emily Peng shares a similar view as Teaupa.
“I think people should go because it really supports our class council,” Peng said. We [want to] make it fun for everyone. And I think these fundraisers really [bring] us toward our future goals [for] the year.”
These fundraisers hosted at these various venues can help each respective class council plan better activities for students in the future.
