By Andy Dunn, Kyle Auger & Craig Brinkerhoff
Staff Writer, Editor-in-Chief & Copy Editor
As you can read in this piece, the National Honors Society (NHS) has faced a drop in fundraising this year. From the loss of daffodil sales as well as their once prosperous dance, the organization’s total donations have fallen from $5,427 in the 2010-2011 school year down to $1925 in 2012-2013, and thus far they have only donated $410 this school year. Now, the NHS is focused on the future and how to give more to the community in the form of a dodgeball tournament.
“We used to do a big dance, but as you know, dances are no longer the thing. We are trying to make up for that so this year we have […] dodgeball. Those are the major events we have for this year,” said NHS advisor Heather Tedesco.
Dances are gone for good, so the club needs to get creative and figure out how to muster donations. The same thing happened to other clubs like DECA, however they have been able to adapt.
Unlike NHS, DECA avoided stagnation in fundraising and recovered. This year alone they have created a mattress sale, and in the past years they have benefited from the performances of a comedy hypnotist. Although the club has lost money when the dance was discontinued, their newer projects have made up for a portion of the lost fundraising, according to the club’s president, senior Abigail Ciancolo.
“The goal of the tournament is to raise some money for National Honor Society, and also to host an event that anyone in the school can attend, participate in, and enjoy,” said senior Evan Beatty, who is spearheading the dodgeball project with fellow e-board member senior Rishabh Kodia.
Last year the tournament was far from a success, with it never actually happening. Advisers and members alike cited organizational and execution issues. However in the words of Tedesco, they plan on “learning from their mistakes”.
“There is some extra incentive to make sure the tournament is successful after its cancellation last year […] Last year was our first year with dodgeball, and we were not as prepared or organized as we should have been. This year, we started the process much earlier. We have formed “mini committees” within the dodgeball committee that are each responsible for completing a certain task by and assigned deadline,” said Beatty.
The leadership of the organization has addressed their problems from the past. They have already amassed a date, a prize, officials, food, and are collecting the necessary teams. Everyone is now looked towards the event to see what sorts of income it can create as they try to rebound their donations to the value it used to be at.
“The proceeds from the tournament will be a contribution to our main annual donation. Every year, National Honor Society makes a significant contribution to a charity voted on by all the members,” said Beatty.
