By J1 Reporter Kyra McFadden

All Marian students participate in an all school Walk-A-Thon (WAT); the first and only student-led fundraiser of the year. Throughout the four weeks of WAT collection dates, each class is able to arrange food nights and other forms of fundraising to bring in money for their class goal.

Many classes plan their food nights during the four weeks of WAT from Aug. 27 through Sept. 17. The senior class this year had two WAT collection opprotunities during the fifth week: Grease Monkey Carwash and Godfather’s Pizza, causing an idea of unfairness to the underclassmen. Each class had a carwash with Grease Monkey for their WAT total, but seniors and freshmen had their original carwashes canceled due to circumstances outside of their control.  

Cali D’Agosto, senior class officer, “arrived at 9:30 am and stayed till 10:45 am” with her other class officers, but when no Grease Monkey employees showed up, they decided to reschedule the carwash for another date.

The freshman class, whose car wash was also canceled, “was given the same opportunity” says Ms. Jessica Abel, Student Board Co-Moderator. Each class was given a fair opportunity to run their own carwash.

The senior class had a Godfather’s Pizza night date set within the four weeks of the WAT collections. So why was their collection date during the fifth week? Cali said, “We had a date set within the four weeks of WAT, but a Godfather’s manager contacted us and offered us a better deal. We didn’t want to be rude and reject them.”

“They asked for permission in advance,” Ms. Abel said. Meaning, each class is allowed to do fundraising events during the fifth week, if they have asked in advance. Ms. Abel “will rarely say no when anyone asks to do more fundraisers.”  

Although the WAT presentation given at WAT kick off only lists four collection dates, it also states, “Any donation submitted AFTER the final collection date will not be counted toward an individual’s total, it will only count toward the class total.”

According to Ms. Abel, it’s harder to have money go toward the entire school goal than it is a grade’s class total. The money is floating around and not specified towards any class. Overall, each class is given a fair opportunity to bring in money and reach their class goals.