By Haleigh Miller ’12, News Section Editor
When students come home bearing packages of forms and catalogs, equipped to begin raising money, not everyone involved is entirely pleased with the process which is about to begin. Every year towards the middle of September, middle school students are suddenly motivated towards encouraging their friends, neighbors, and family members to renew their magazine subscriptions, or find a new magazine that interests them. This sudden inspiration branches from the CCDS Middle School kicking off their annual magazine sale. Middle School students sell magazines in the hopes of reaching goals of certain numbers of orders, for which they are rewarded with prizes, such as gum, candy, inexpensive electronics, or free dress.
Most middle school students agree that the sale is a good way to raise money, and to reward students for their efforts. “I think it’s cool because you can have fun selling them and then you win prizes,” said Sam Schwartz ’18. Emma Rust ’16 agreed with Schwartz, saying she thought “the prize thing is a really good incentive to raise money [for the school].”
While students sometimes feel a little uncomfortable asking people to buy magazines, it rarely hinders them. Whitney Mink ’16 and Rust both agreed that the weirdness of the request is usually offset by the fact that they know the people they’re selling to, and that the prizes make the effort worth it. They both participate in the sale for the prizes they’ll win if they successfully sell magazine subscriptions, especially the sought-after reward of free dress. Rust included that the freedom from collars and no-denim restrictions were the biggest contributor to her participation in the sale.
However, before students can start selling, they must get parental approval. Middle School parent Nancy Miller said that the act of selling magazines and the dangers of people students might not know is not a worry. “Grandparents, neighbors and friends are typically happy to renew or find a new magazine subscription.” However, she thinks the fundraiser could benefit from reform, particularly regarding the prizes. “I don’t like the prizes supplied by fundraising companies; they are silly and typically break before they make it home. Besides, the kids are not ‘winning’ anything. They are buying toys from the fundraising company.”
Eighth Grade Team Leader and French Teacher Rachel Corwin isn’t a big fan of the sale. “I think it’s… important because it’s our only fund raiser, but I think that it’s kind of annoying,” said Mrs. Corwin. “It gets kind of out of control… [with] the kids running around and they make their parents buy magazines so they can win prizes.” Mrs. Corwin continued by saying that, while the magazine sale is a solid idea in principle, the prizes and lack of routine accompanying it are frequently taken advantage of.
Regardless of the opinions of adults, Middle School students still think the sale is a worth-while project. Schwartz, Rust, and Mink all agreed that the prizes motivate students to raise money for a cause they can all agree on: their school.
While the students may support the sale, many adults agree that some change needs to be made, even if just from an information standpoint. Miller explained that she would be able to form a more complete opinion of the sale if the Middle School administration did a better job of informing the parents about it. She certainly supports the sale and the cause it aims to raise money for, but added, “It could still be magazines, but it [could stand] to be reformed.” She supports kids participating in school fundraising efforts, but has questions. “How much money does it raise? Where do the funds go? And most importantly, what lesson does it teach our kids?”
Photo by Adriana Ungerleider ’12, Contributor
