by Emma Willibey

STA juniors sold candy grams to students and faculty for the junior class fundraiser Dec. 3-7.  The drive collected $530 from sales of the $1 candy grams that students offered during lunch/activity in M&A Building’s front hallway.

“I think [the amount of money raised] was about what we were hoping for,” junior class representative Katie Hornbeck said.

Profits will subsidize the April 20 junior ring dance and senior-year milestones like prom.  According to junior class moderator Robin Good, juniors typically aim to raise $2000-3000 before senior year to afford these events.

“The reason you fundraise your junior year is to raise money for your prom venue and get your senior year started,” Good said. “Anything extra that [juniors] don’t use on their [junior ring] dance rolls into their funds.”

According to Good, juniors have sold magazine subscriptions to accumulate savings for about ten years.  However, the current junior class delegates approached the fundraiser hoping to abandon this tradition.  Hornbeck and junior class representative Mary Hart agree that the delegates devised the candy gram drive out of a lack of interest in selling periodicals.

“We all didn’t want to do the magazines,” Hart said.

Instead, Hornbeck said that the representatives sought to deliver convenient snacks like last year’s choir lollipops.  A conversation unrelated to the campaign led the girls to consider candy canes.

“I think we were just kinda joking about ‘Mean Girls’ one day, and [candy grams] came up,” Hart said.

The class delegates then recognized that dispensing candy grams throughout STA exemplified this year’s “making connections” theme.  This marked the first time in Good’s memory that juniors derived their fundraiser from STA’s annual motto.

“[I was] immediately impressed,” Good said. “They picked up on that connections thing right off the bat.”

To initiate these connections, the representatives formed a candy gram preparation committee, advertising committee, selling committee and delivering committee for their peers to operate. Juniors then enlisted in the committee of their choice through a shared Google document.

“[The junior class representatives] announced at the November class meeting that people could start signing up,” Good said.  “One of their goals was to promote class bonding and unity and connections.”

The juniors accomplished this through issuing the candy grams. After the preparation committee assembled the candy canes, the selling committee placed each candy cane in a box assigned to the recipient’s advisor.  Later, the delivering committee distributed the sweets to each advisory during midday prayer.  According to Good, the class representatives organized this interconnected system.

“[Junior class representatives] do the nuts-and-bolts work,” Good said.  “They’ve done the pricing; they’ve done the planning.”

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According to Hornbeck, this effort resonated most with students and faculty near the campaign’s end.  Hornbeck said that few people purchased candy grams Dec. 3 due to little awareness of the fundraiser’s debut.

“I think we definitely should have gotten the word out about it sooner,” Hornbeck said.

However, Hornbeck reports that the candy grams’ demand improved after opening day.  As students received friends’ messages, they felt compelled to return the favor, elevating the drive’s popularity.

“I think that once people started getting candy grams, they had a lot more fun and started sending [them] to all their friends,” Hornbeck said.  “I think everyone enjoyed it.”

Although Hornbeck said that the candy grams’ proceeds did not match those of previous fundraisers, she recommends the drive to future classes.

“I thought it was a lot of fun, personally,” Hornbeck said. “It was a great way to connect everyone in our grade.”