Seniors on a fundraising spree, successfully lower the price of prom

The senior class has made a significant effort to lower prom bids this year through a variety of fundraisers.

“It was definitely one of my main goals this year do as many fundraisers as we possibly could,” senior class president Evelyn Lee said.  “We weren’t taking advantage of the time we had in the past three years to fundraise, and we didn’t meet our minimum amount of people for junior prom so that set us back a little.”

The class of 2013 senior prom, to be held at undisclosed location in San Francisco on May 18, is expected to cost up to $40,000 due to the high price of the venue and rising gas prices for the buses, which may reach $6,000, according to Lee. 

So far, the senior class has held many fundraisers, including a promotion night at both Yogurtland and Buffalo Wild Wings, the Beauty and a Beat Mixer, an online fundraising store, the Arizona Iced Tea fundraiser and a raffle at the Saratoga-Los Gatos football game.  The profits from senior class T-shirts and crewnecks also go towards the prom fund. 

“Financially we're pretty good,” senior class secretary Jason Seo said.  “We've been making tons of money.”

In total, the earnings from the class of 2013 fundraisers this year alone add up to over $6,000.  This was Lee’s fundraising goal set at the beginning of the year, enough to lower each bid by about $20.  However, the senior Homecoming decorations cost a few thousand dollars and will be deducted from this total.

“The class officers spend a lot of their own personal time as well as money out of their pocket to put these fundraisers on for the sake of their whole class, and I hope people appreciate it,” Lee said.

There are still two months before prom, and the senior class plans to keep up fundraising efforts for as long as it can.

“We’re planning a ‘Garage Sale’ type of fundraiser where we’ll ask seniors to donate any of their old SAT/AP books so we can sell them to the underclassmen,” Lee said.  “Seniors want to get rid of them, our class could use the money, and underclassmen always look for deals on those study books so hopefully that will turn out well.”

Lee is dedicated to making prom affordable for everyone, and she hopes the class will appreciate the fundraising efforts.

“Prom is always expensive, but we really hope no one misses out just because of the cost and by doing all these fundraisers we’re showing our class we truly care that each and every single one of them is there for that special night,” Lee said.