By J1 reporter Katie Zinna

Imagine it’s 1994 and Walk-A-Thon (WAT) is right around the corner. Excitement runs rampant throughout the school as students anxiously await to hear the school total. This was exactly the case for senior Jennifer Zinna. 

Being a Student Board member that year changed how Zinna viewed WAT. She remembers how much work and effort students put into reaching their school goal. She also recalls how rather than there being class goals, Marian focused more on individual goals. Each student was asked to bring about $60-$70 and raised this money through bake sales, asking family for money, or by knocking on neighbor’s doors. 

Zinna said, “I like how Marian has so many different ways to raise money now, whether it’s car washes, food nights, etc. I remember that we didn’t really do things like that and had to resort to other ways of raising money, like knocking on our neighbor’s door. I didn’t like asking strangers for money, and I wish that I could have offered them something rather than them just giving me money.” 

She remembers how Student Board was very involved in motivating the school to raise money. Her parents had sent all 10 of their children to private high schools, so being able to help lower the tuition for her siblings allowed her to see how important and helpful WAT was to so many people and caused her to be a great advocate for WAT.

Even now, Zinna is asked each year by her daughters to donate some money to WAT. She is always willing to lend a helping hand and does not hesitate to donate. She says that she loves all the new ways that students can contribute to meeting their WAT goal (like car washes and kick back nights) and how she loves being able to donate online because it makes everything easier.

All in all, Zinna concludes that she likes how much WAT has changed and wishes WAT was like that for her. She remembers how much effort each and every girl puts in to reduce Marian’s tuition and looks back on her Marian days fondly.