By J1 Reporters: Bella Beck and Ashley Doehner

Car washes, raffles, food nights, and mask and sticker sales. This variety of fundraisers were all run by students to raise money for Marian’s Walk-A-Thon (WAT). Due to COVID-19 restrictions, fundraising methods that are normally used such as bake sales and door-to-door donations were out of the picture for 2020 WAT. Each class had to pull together new and creative ideas to raise money in order to reach their goals. 

The freshmen raised 59 percent of their goal according to Student Board Co-Moderator Ms. Jessica Abel. Without Class Officers to guide them, the students in Ms. Halli Tripe and Ms. Esther Hamra’s homerooms took charge of their class’s fundraising. They came up with the idea to hold a raffle for a Marian Blue-Tique gift card. This raffle brought in about $260 for their class. The rest of their fundraising was brought in through donations, which took their total up to about $13,300. 

Sophomores raised 57 percent of their goal. Food nights were a big contributor to their fundraising. The participating restaurants included Freddies, E-Creamery, and Chipotle. These three food nights brought in about $530 to the sophomore class. They also held a car wash at the Grease Monkey which brought in almost $1,400. The total amount that their class raised was about $14,500.

The juniors raised close to 90 percent of their final goal. They did this with a variety of fundraisers, with their car wash bringing in the most money totaling about $1,150. Fundraisers that also contributed were three food nights, one being held at E-Creamery and the other two at Arby’s. Their last fundraiser sold hand-made tie-dyed masks at $7 per-mask. According to Class Officer Josie Golka, they sold about 110 masks coming to a total of around $800. In the end, the juniors brought in nearly $21,000. 

The seniors ended up raising 86 percent of their goal. Some fundraisers that helped with this were a food night at Jimmy Johns, raffles for a free photoshoot and a pair of earrings, and a sale on WAT stickers. The raffles and sticker sale raised almost $440, being the fundraiser that brought in the most money for them. With these fundraisers and individual donations, they raised about $20,600. 

In total, Marian students brought in about 73 percent of their all-school goal, according to Abel, which was nearly $70,000. Able says that she is proud of how the students persevered through an unusual WAT and “made it work.”