By J1 Reporters Carli Ahsan and Maddie Auman

In the midst of a global pandemic, Marian held its annual Walk-A-Thon student fundraiser. Students were instructed to follow COVID-19 regulations as they walked, but they also had to follow them as they collected money. This was a challenge for many girls. They could no longer go door-to-door asking for donations, hold bake sales, or have nearly as many restaurant food nights. The Marian students had to do what they do best, be creative.

One junior class officer, Cali D’Agosto, came up with the idea to tie-dye masks and sell them to collect money. Four class officers, including D’Agosto met to work on the masks. “We sold around 125 masks. We had to wash them before we did anything, fold and zip tie, recount to make sure we had enough, dye them, wash the dye out, dry them, iron the WAT 2020 on the bottom, and finally package and sort by homeroom,” D’Agosto said.

In the end, their work paid off. They raised $349 from just the masks alone, and many girls in the junior class showed up to Walk-A-Thon with their homemade tie-dye mask. With the help of this fundraiser, the junior class came in first place, finishing with $20,923. 

Following the creativity of the juniors, the senior class decided to host a raffle for a pair of earrings of their choice by 402PAIRS. Owner of this business, senior class officer Cydney Putnam, decided this would be a great way to fundraise for Walk-A-Thon. They didn’t stop there. The senior class also hosted a raffle for a photo shoot with senior yearbook photographer Grace Specht. These were perfect opportunities for innovative ways to fundraise. The senior class finished in second place, with a total of $20,590.

Raffles were popular this year, with the freshmen also doing a raffle for themed baskets and a chance to win a $100 Bluetique gift card. The freshman class had to be extra creative in choosing fundraisers with the pandemic going on. They didn’t have the advantage of having experiences from past years, unlike the other classes, but they still managed to raise $13,286. The sophomores, with one year of experience, were able to raise $14,667. They decided to host a car wash and raised $1,359.33 on the afternoon of Sept. 12 from 9am-12pm. “Girls are really creative…. a lot of people were bummed about no bake sales, but the car washes did make a difference,” said Student Board co-moderator, Ms. Jessica Abel. 

In total, Marian students raised $69,516.58. These unexpected challenges proved the creativity and hard work of Marian students. Although they were in the middle of a pandemic, these girls still managed to help their school a lot by raising money.