By J1 Reporter Eva Kriener

Walk-A-Thon. This phrase is something every Marian girl knows by heart. 

Walk-A-Thon, also shortened to WAT, took place on Sept. 30. It is an annual fundraising event characterized by walking a certain distance depending on the amount of money raised by each grade. Many Marian students enjoy WAT and see it as a friendly competition in order to gain money for their school for tuition assistance. However, the students aren’t the only ones affected and excited about the event. WAT makes an impact on homeroom teachers, as the standings of homerooms can determine prizes won and if they met their goal. 

History teacher and junior homeroom teacher Mrs. Jessica Goodman takes her homeroom’s WAT donations seriously. “It’s super important that every single homeroom in each grade meets their goal, that way we all feel like we’re doing our part,” she said.

If a homeroom doesn’t meet its goal, it could be detrimental to the overall success of the money raised for their grade. It could lower its overall ranking and only get them further and further away from their final goal. “If any homeroom decides not to meet their goal, then it’s way less likely for the grade to meet their goal. We can’t do that because we can’t rely on one homeroom, everyone has to contribute,” Goodman said. 

For science and freshman homeroom teacher Mr. Timothy Barth, Walk-A-Thon is a little different. “My freshman homeroom did not meet their goal; they were about 29% away from it. I was about 50/50 in thinking that they could make their goal this year, partially because they are freshmen, but also because of the difference between in-person and online donations. It’s a little hard to see how far you got on each of those,” he said.  

Despite his homeroom not making their goal, Barth still feels that WAT is important to the students. The majority of the money raised goes towards the tuition assistance programs, which aid many of the students in being able to come to Marian for their education. He said, “As a homeroom teacher, I think they did a great job letting people know the reasoning behind the fundraising, but I think it’s more important for the students since its for tuition assistance and a lot of the money raised goes back to them.” 

The most important thing both Goodman and Barth want students to know is that everyone needs to do their part in order to make a difference, and keep Marian, Marian.