By J1 Reporter Ella Plank

Every year a group of passionate girls put together a fundraiser which is full chaos. Well, that is Walk-A-Thon at Marian. Walk-a-thon, which is also known as WAT, is a treasured tradition that Marian girls look forward to at the beginning of the school year. WAT is the only fundraiser at Marian that is completely student coordinated.. With the money raised from WAT, girls are able to attend Marian who may not have been able to before without the tuition assistance. Marian girls have many unique and different ways to raise money to help their class win. One of the most popular ways is to host bake sales.

Every Friday during WAT season, each grade coordinates a bake sale to help their class raise money from the purchasing of bakery items. For the 2021 WAT season, the four bakes sales were on Aug. 27, Sept. 3, Sept. 10, and Sept. 17 and were hosted in the Marian cafeteria. Each class brainstormed ways to help make their bake sale the most successful it could be. 

This was the sophomores’ first experience of hosting a bake sale for WAT due to COVID last year, which brought much excitement to their class. Sophomore Margaret McGill said that the sophomore class bake sale goal was $900. However, they had a low goal considering their final outcome was around $1,700.

McGill said they exceeded their goal by $800 because of their unique Christmas theme which motivated students to purchase their items and brought the overall spirit of the student body higher. McGill also gives credit to sophomore Ellie Fogarty because she brought in homemade earrings to sell at the sale, which helped their overall total enormously. 

Being the sophomore class’s first bake sale, they set higher standards to be met next year considering they raised the most money for the year 2021. The sophomore class ended in third overall which they were proud of because they were experiencing their first “real” WAT. 

The senior class set high expectations for their last WAT at Marian. The seniors wanted to leave their mark of victory with their last WAT. Senior Kate Timmerman said that the class’s goal for their bake sale was $1,000. The final result of their bake sale was around $850; they were slightly under their goal. Timmerman said they did not meet their goal because they sold their products cheaper than other classes. Most of their items were only $1. They also only sold baked goods at their sale, but Timmerman believes that the sophomores were creative because they sold other items. Timmerman said that the money they raised from their bake sale was a nice boost for the final week of WAT. 

The seniors had a Hawaiian theme for their bake sale. Their bake sale day fell on a dress down and they were able to dress up in Hawaiian clothes, which improved their overall experience of their bake sale. Despite the senior class’s fourth place finish in the bake sale, they were the first class to host their bake sale. The senior class ended up taking the victory for WAT 2021 despite their results of their bake sale.