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| courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Public Domain |
Fundraising has become a way of life in our public school system. When I went to school, clubs and groups like JROTC would hold fundraisers to help pay for field trips, new band uniforms, or to help out a student's family in need. That was then. This is now.
Now, schools hold fundraisers to buy extravagances like soap, paper towels, and toilet paper for the student restrooms, copy paper for teachers to use to print out tests and assignments for students. We also hold fundraisers to buy bits and pieces of 21st Century technology like computers and iPads that the powers that be and future employers expect our students to be knowledgeable about using. It is in the teaching standards by which we are rated every year as to how much we use 21st Century technology in the classroom, and, more importantly, how well we teach our students to use 21t Century technology.
Whatever the reason, schools are becoming adept at raising money to cover the cost of basic educational and hygiene necessities the tax paying public has decided it doesn’t want to pay for. My Principal discovered a wonderful fundraiser and last night it took place. What was this wonderful fundraiser? A laser-light show and dance party.
Here in our neck of the woods we have a company started by a former middle school guidance counselor and this company specializes in hosting fundraising events. The type of events they host are laser-light dance parties. The former guidance counselor started the company to provide an alternative to the same old boring gym dance with a DJ that today’s students don’t think is worth the $5 it costs to get in the door.
The laser-light dance party costs $20 in advance and $25 at the door. However, the students don’t pay the money, they raise the money. Attendance at the party is a reward for raising at least $20 in donations from family, friends, neighbors, and parent’s co-workers. If the student raises $50 or more, they not only get to attend the party, but they get 2 slices of pizza, a snack, and a drink, along with some pretty cool glow-in-the-dark light stick items. At higher thresholds the rewards get better.
On top of attending the dance and getting rewards, students who raised $50 or more get to SLIME (a la Nickelodeon) 2 of the many teachers who volunteered and were chosen by the Principal as the most likely to motivate kids to raise money. I volunteered but was not chosen. Rumor has it some of my more protective students put out the word that no one had better say they want to SLIME Mr. D.
At the $100 level, students get to SLIME the 2 teachers of their choice and the Principal. If they raise $150, they get to add the Assistant Principal (responsible for discipline) to their SLIME list.
SLIME TIME was going to be Friday at school but because of the inclement weather it was postponed until Monday. All the students who raised at least $20 in advance of the laser-light dance party last night will get to go out and watch SLIME TIME.
Having 300+ dancing and mingling students in a darkened gym while laser-lights play on the wall requires a lot of chaperoning. It also required a separate room for selling food and drink tickets, extra glow stick items, and checking students in and out of the party. My missus and I volunteered to work in the separate room selling glow stick items. We worked the entire party from 6pm to 11pm. We sold over $450 worth of items.
All in all, the laser-light dance party was a huge success and our school will probably have enough to order 3 more iPad carts, carts with the latest iPads, not the nearly obsolete iPads we were forced by state contract to buy for this year. Our Principal is so pleased she’s already begun planning for next year’s event.
My missus and I were glad to be able to help out, but both of us are quite worn out today.
As always, more than usually today, I remain,
The Exhausted Educator
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