Pi Day: a successful and fun new fundraiser

Physics teacher Kirk Davis’ heart beat rapidly in anticipation as the quad was silenced during lunch on March 14. All of a sudden, Davis was greeted by a cream pie thrown by an unknown assailant. As other students began throwing pies in unison, shocked teachers screamed as their students beamed.

The Pi Day fundraiser, organized by the senior class, brought cheers across the quad as students enjoyed drenching their teachers in whipped cream.

Senior class president Rachel Won, who took the lead in planning the event, was glad that the senior class organized the new fundraiser.

“It’s not every day when your teacher lets you pie them in the face,” Won said. “A lot of people enjoyed the event, and the teachers were really good sports — some even pied each other.”

Pi day is a holiday that celebrates one of the most iconic numbers in math: 3.14. Inspired by previous Pi Day traditions, the senior class celebrated its own version with the intention of creating an enjoyable event that would attract a large audience.

To participate in the fundraiser, students bought pies with which to pie students or their favorite teachers. Around 20 teachers and student Leadership students volunteered to be victims, with English teacher Erick Rector and Biology teacher Kristofer Orre both applying for unlimited pieing.

Davis, math teacher Kelly Frangieh and Spanish teacher Bret Yeilding, along with senior class officers Apoorv Kwatra, Sydnie Vo and Danielle Berkowitz, all lined up at the booth facing the onslaught of pies.

Students paid a flat fee of $3 per pie to hit any teacher or student at the pieing booth, which was near the quad steps. Orre said the senior class must have made sizable profits because so many students pelted him with pies. In total, the senior class raised $100 from the fundraiser.

“I received a bombardment of pies [from freshman Hayden Cranz and senior William Chen],” Orre said. “The fundraiser was a bonding experience, for sure. The kids seemed to enjoy it.”

Though the pies were simple tin plates covered in whipped cream in order to minimize expenses, the event attracted a huge audience of students who filled the quad.

“I absolutely recommend anybody but me to participate in the fundraiser,” Davis said.

According to Won, Outreach Commissioner senior Puja Maheshwari originally introduced the concept of pieing teachers as a fundraiser to the senior class leadership team, who loved the idea.

“My brother’s college dance team did something similar last year to fundraise, so I came up with this idea because I thought it would be fun to do it at our school,” Maheshwari said.

Although senior class officer Jessy Liu is unsure if future classes will continue the tradition, she was glad the senior class tried the event.

“Students had fun, and teachers enjoyed it too,” Liu said. “I mean, who doesn’t enjoy public humiliation? That’s always a unifying factor.”