By J1 Reporter Shelby Gerken

On the final Friday of September, Marian girls sit at the edge of their bleacher seats in the East Gym, as they anxiously await the results of Walk-A-Thon (WAT). After four weeks of hard work and fundraising, they will celebrate no matter what place each class finishes.

The fundraising is ultimately for tuition assistance for students. Students raised money in various ways, from asking family and friends to donate, bake sales, car washes to raffle ticket drawings.

Each class had their own goal which collectively added up to the school’s goal of $100,000. The percentage of a class’s goal raised determines what place they finished in WAT. Which consequently determines the order for Color Block, a key factor of Field Day in the spring. This creates a friendly competitive spirit amongst students. 

This year, all four grades went above and beyond their individual class goals and school goal, reaching 121% total. Walking the 4-mile route on Sept. 30, freshmen finished in fourth place with 102% of their goal met and sophomores in third place with 105% of their goal met. With upperclassmen left walking the 2-mile route, the juniors finished in second place with 124% of their goal met and seniors in first with 130%. Students and teachers alike were proud of their performance. 

Freshman Bridget Finnegan said, “I think our class did well, especially since it was our first WAT… For next year, we need to get better at working together as a class towards our goal.”

Sophomore Class Officer Elliot Coziahr proves Finnegan’s wishes for next year. Coziahr said, “I am very proud of the sophs… I think we improved as a grade this year. We improved by working together to have a carwash and we all contributed to the bake sale.” 

 In closer inspection, one can see some of the percentages are very close together. Only a 2% difference between underclassmen and 6% difference between upperclassmen. Are these close results a coincidence or is there a cause behind it? 

Senior Isi Raczynski said she believes that COVID had a role to play with the small difference in upperclassman results. “COVID got a big chunk of our freshman years and neither grades got to experience it entirely. We basically had our first WAT the same year, so we have the same amount of experience.” 

As for events, it became obvious the importance of organizing events with full class participation and not just relying on family and friends to donate. Junior Class Officer Caitlyn Dunham weighs in on what events helped the junior class meet their goal the most. “I would say that the bake sale did us a lot of good, but also when people would go door-to-door and make their own bake sales or lemonade stands, that helped us a lot.”   

Coziahr said that lemonade stands and the freshman/sophomore car wash majorly contributed to their class goal.

Finnegan said she thought the bake sale was a success and the best event for the freshman.  

After another successful year of Walk-A-Thon, students are now reaping their rewards of meeting the overall school goal. This year’s all school goal was $100,000, and students surpassed that goal ending with a little under $121,000 with 121% raised.

Since students went above and beyond the goal, they have earned special days like Free Dress for a week, Halloween Movie Day, Free Day and juniors get senior privilege for a week. But don’t be fooled by the excitement, because anyone can bet on the fact that Marian girls have already begun to strategize for Field Day and how they can improve for next year’s WAT.