Similar to previous years, the National Honor Society held a fundraising event in February. All donations went to the Make-a-Wish Foundation this year, and the choice was made partly in response to the foundation being highlighted at a convention.
During the Minnesota Association of Student Councils/ Minnesota Association of Honor Societies meeting, students came together from across the state at the start of the year, and a decision was made to highlight the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Because it was highlighted on a state level, Prior Lake High School’s National Honor Society chapter chose to include the organization in one of its events.
Following the decision to incorporate Make-a-Wish into the event, cochairs Shou Veng and Amanda Levie, helped modify the previous year’s fundraiser to set it up for even more success. According to Veng, “The process started with Mandy and I coming up with the general idea. From here, we had the help of fellow NHS members…Daniella Bidgood, Nissa Frantz, and Brooke Marquardt to help with materializing the actual event.”
The event changed from Pennies for Patients to Wish Your Way. Since the event was fully organized by students, the core group helped to get the event going, and several other NHS members helped with counting the money.
As members went around collecting the money each Friday, specifically during first hour because it fit their schedules best, they noticed that oftentimes only a few classes actually raised money. Veng said, “A lot of its success depends on the teacher’s willingness to engage the class in the fundraiser. This is why much of our planning goes towards creating teacher competitions or incentives to donate.”
Along with teacher and classroom investment in the idea, successful fundraising also entails students leading independent sales.
This year, NHS sold cotton candy during A, B, and C lunch shifts. The idea to use this tactic stemmed from the knowledge that a student in 2023 had sold cotton candy for the fundraiser. Although the sale only lasted one day, about $320 was raised from it.
Luckily, more money was raised other than the profits made from selling cotton candy. The highest amounts counted were $361.87 from Mr. Koehlmoos, $390.67 from Mr. Wagner, and $1,067.12 from Mr.Tomlinson. Because Mr.Tomlinson won, aside from donuts for his first hour, Tomlinson offered his classes unlimited retakes along with an in-class retake day.
By raising a total of $2,572.38, Prior Lake High School’s donations will greatly contribute to helping make one wish happen since a wish for Make-A-Wish costs about $9,000.
For Veng, “The most enjoyable part of the fundraiser for me is all the planning involved. I had a lot of fun meeting up with board members to plan how we would increase participation.”
It is likely that an event similar to this year’s Wish Your Way will happen next year and, hopefully, it will have even greater success!
