The Boston Latin School Class of 2027 Student Committee has recently begun fundraising for Junior Prom, which will take place on June 12. Fundraising events so far have included a March Madness bracket and selling snacks at the basketball senior night.
In addition to funding Junior Prom, money from fundraisers will also go towards holding prom at a more popular venue, providing better snacks and drinks and even saving for Senior Prom next year.
Charis Neave (II), a member of the Class of 2027 Student Committee, explains, “Our current fundraiser is a March Madness-inspired dare bracket, where two committee members go head to head, and whoever wins the most money has to do the dare and moves on to the next round.”
The Class of 2027 Student Committee was formed in freshman year through a selection process involving interviews conducted by advisors Ms. Zoe Smith and Ms. Rose Delorme Metayer. The committee itself, however, is student-focused, with many students getting involved during their junior year.
The committee’s work has not been limited to this year. Since the committee was formed two years ago, there have been many opportunities to host events and plan fundraisers over the past few years. Ava Phan (II), a member of the Class of 2027 Student Committee, elaborates, “Back in freshman year, we did a freshman dance like the Spring Fling, and that raised us money. We’ve also done multiple mixers, which are community bonding activities during W block.”
This school year, the committee started planning its events and fundraisers in November, though committee members believe that an even earlier start in the future could be beneficial.
Some of the committee’s events were more successful than others. Neave states, “Our most successful event was probably selling food at the basketball senior night. We sold pizza, drinks and snacks. There were a lot of people at the game, including people from outside our school, so in general, there were a lot of people buying snacks.”
One of the biggest challenges the committee faced was persuading students to spend money at the fundraisers, as an important part of planning was making sure that the events were profitable and worth the amount of time being put in. The committee has found that fundraising in general can be difficult because it is a challenge to find something that students would be interested in spending their money on. There were additionally some technical difficulties with online donating.
One solution that they came up with was hosting a mix of free events and fundraisers. Ms. Smith explains, “Instead of just fundraisers, we also did W block mixers. […] That class does a lot of stuff together, and I think by doing those team-building things, [students are] more apt to go to the fundraisers.”
Looking ahead, the Class of 2027 Student Committee plans to host another junior mixer and a Double Good popcorn fundraiser before Junior Prom.