Without a Variety Show, the current senior class has to come up with new ideas so that they don’t have to take out a student loan to buy their prom tickets.
Here is a reality check: the Variety Show usually makes the school on average $6,000-7,000. Without this, prom tickets can be $150 apiece.
The school needs to come up with some concrete ideas so that I will not need to sell one of kidneys just so that I can go to prom.
One money-making idea the school has already come up with is a senior coffee house, which will be a way for seniors to perform skits that would have been included in the Variety Show. In a way, I feel guilty for all of the hard work that the few people in the variety show did, and their hard work shouldn’t go unnoticed. This is a way to have a smaller, more personal Variety Show and keep the couple of funny and unique skits the show originally had.
The senior class will also sell wristbands to the rest of the school during exam week so students can dress down. This idea could possibly bring in a lot of money that will help cover the cost of prom. What kid wants to wear a shirt and tie or a skirt to a two hour long exam? The wristbands will cost 12 dollars and being allowed to wear sweatpants during exams will definitely prove to be worth the money.
A negative of this idea is if 50% of the student body buys the wristbands it will only sell $4,200. This means we are still in a $2,800 hole.
The senior class has already had a dining out fundraiser at Looney’s Pub in Bel Air, and is hoping to do that again there and also at Burger King. I went to the first dining out night at Looney’s, and it was a lot of fun.
My only problem with it was that the only people that showed up were members of the senior class, their parents, and a few teachers. The rest of the school doesn’t understand that they will be in the same boat as us in a few years, and they should come out and show their support. I mean who doesn’t like eating food, and giving to a good cause all in one night.
An idea of my own is a Senior Talent Show. I know that we already sort of tried this idea with the Variety Show, but it didn’t work out because no one wanted to change the Variety Show. It also didn’t work out because no one had nine hours a week to practice a talent that they already knew they had.
The Talent Show should only have two or three rehearsals, and should be a show that teachers and students won’t be afraid to come to. It could be a fun and entertaining night if executed right.
We don’t need little ideas to raise money like bake sales and car washes, we need just a couple of really solid ideas. I think that we are on the right path, but right now my advice to the juniors is to try and get back the Variety Show. It would be so much easier.
Amanda Graziano is a Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com