Supporting the Senior Class

“Buy your graduation pictures! Buy your yearbooks! Have you bought your prom dress? Don’t forget to save up for prom tickets.” The class of 2022 is coming to the end of their high school career, and that seems to mean big spending for students. Many year experiences for seniors come with a price, and these teens are beginning to see real-world struggles related to money. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the class of 2022 was given a limited amount of time to fundraise. Usually, the junior class is given the profits from the football season snack stand to help. When the class of 2022 were juniors, the pandemic took that chunk of money away—leaving the class with little to no money to spend. Fundraising would make things cheaper for the students, like prom tickets. Many local businesses are teaming up with the senior class’s executive class to fundraise money: the most recent being the Dublin Nina’s Waffles and Ice Cream.

On March 2, 2022, Nina’s Waffles and Ice Cream partnered with the Senior class to fundraise! Lauren Scott, a member of the executive council, shared with us that the executive council “likes to work with local businesses and thought that the event would be beneficial for both Nina’s and executive council.” Nina’s had agreed to give 50 percent of the night’s profits to the senior class. So, where will the money go? Technically the money goes to the Executive Council of the senior class. When interviewing Scott, she told us that she “could not share” how much money the council currently has; however, she could provide input on how much was made at the fundraiser. She said, “I do not have the exact amount, but I know it is over $900.00.” That is a huge profit and will help the senior class tremendously.

Many people attended the event. A senior, Lea Preston, went with friends and family. When restating her order, she said she got “A waffle with a scoop of caramel peanut butter ice cream.” For her, this order was around $17.00. Many people at the event were walking around with a waffle with a scoop of ice cream on top. Preston had mentioned it was very busy and said, “when I got there, there were probably like 15 to 17 people.” 17 people multiplied by an average of $17.00 per person comes out to be about $145.00 going to the senior class. This was occurring all night. When you arrived at the event, there was a great atmosphere! People were chattering and smiling while enjoying their ice cream. You couldn’t turn around without seeing someone else you knew! It was busy until the very last second when Nina’s closed at nine o’clock there were still people in line.

Nina’s Waffles and Ice Cream is not the only local business that has supported the Pennridge senior class. Many other people and places in the community have been open to supporting the class of 2022. In October, J.T Bankers hosted a similar fundraiser as Nina’s. Many came out to eat with big friends or just brought their families. In December, there was a Spirit Wear fundraiser with sweatshirts and t-shirts. The most recent fundraiser for the class is graduation yard signs. They sell the signs until April 10, 2022, so put your orders in! All proceeds from these events are advertised as going towards prom.

Small businesses, parents, students, and the Pennridge Community have all come together to support the seniors. The Executive Council continues to look for new ways to fundraise money to make prom expenses a little more doable for the students. It is so lovely knowing the community as a whole has the senior classes back. The support from everyone will help us to have a fun, successful prom!