By J1 Reporters Gigi Salerno and Grace Woodard

The 2020 Walk-A-Thon made history; not only did it occur during a pandemic, but it was also the first year since at least 1994 without bake sales. Walk-A-Thon is a tradition at Marian in which the school raises money through donations and fundraisers that contributes to tuition assistance and technology. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 rules, bake sales were not able to be a part of WAT this year. For the first time in Marian history, no class reached their individual WAT goal and the lack of bake sales had a huge effect on that.  

Classes are assigned certain days leading up to Walk-A-Thon for their bake sales. On these days, students bring homemade or store-bought treats to be sold from anywhere between 25 cents and $5. Throughout WAT, bake sales impact the amount of money classes raise and tremendously help the school reach its overall goal — typically bringing in between $500-$800 per grade, according to Student Board co-moderator Ms. Abel

Overall, many students said they believe that if bake sales had occurred this year, the results would have been very different. “More people would have been encouraged to bring in more money if bake sales had happened this year, as they create excitement amongst the classes and encourage them to participate in Walk-A-Thon. I certainly would’ve been more excited to participate,” said Audrey Ehlers, a current sophomore Student Board member. 

This viewpoint is also shared by several teachers. “I would have been able to get my class fired up to do better this year, if there had been a bake sale,” said math teacher Ms. Sue Altman, who has been a bake sale moderator three times. These bake sales help excite girls to participate in Walk-A-Thon as they organize the event, bake, and sell treats with their classmates throughout the day. 

It is a common belief at Marian that these bake sales not only unite individual classes, but the student body as a whole, as girls from every class support each other by buying one anothers’ treats. Even without bake sales this year, other fundraisers such as car washes, Bluetique raffles, and restaurant nights made the 2020 Walk-A-Thon worth remembering.