Over seven months ago, the Need for Speed Patriot Raffle ended. This year, students expected a faster, reliable Wi-Fi connection. The proceeds from last year’s raffle have yet to be spent.

 According to Director of Annual Giving and Constituent Relations Laura Lang, the money was put towards the 2011-2012 technology budget.

 It hasn’t been spent because the money made in the raffle fell short. “We hoped to net $30,000 after expenses, [but] after prizes and expenses we netted $22,000,” Lang said.

 Director of Tehnology Greg Russell believes the Wi-Fi is faster this year, even with the old hardware, partly because enrollment is down. “Of course, people are doing more with the access every year,” Russell said.

 Lang says that although the proceeds fell short, the raffle was successful. “Special events can be a great way to raise funds, but after time, they tend to lose their ‘glamour’ and appeal. This was the seventh year for the Patriot Raffle and it was not as successful as we wanted it to be.”

 “So many faculty and students were wonderful and really participated…but ‘it takes a village,’ as they say, in order for it to be 100 percent successful. So, we’ve put the raffle to bed for now, and are looking for new and exciting ways for our students to get involved in the advancement process,” Lang said.

 Senior Rebecca Toskes was the highest seller with 340 tickets sold, but she’s not bothered by the unspent money. “As long as it was going to benefit the school I didn’t really mind where the money was going,” Toskes said.

 Junior Thomas Gardner, however, was looking forward to better Wi-Fi this year.

 “I expected the Internet to be considerably faster, and expected to be able to get a solid connection any time of the day,” Gardner said.

Adam Kuester is a News Section Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.