School is back in session, which means Powell High School’s clubs and sports are starting back up. Due to travel expenses and today’s inflation, clubs and sports have been working harder than ever to fundraise for their team.

“We use the money for anything we may need to buy for activities throughout the year, such as homecoming and Make-A-Wish.” senior Anna Bartholomew said. “We also use it for our annual state student council convention.” 

The fundraisers that the PHS students take part in ease the cost of competitions and activities. Many competitions for highschool students require a fee to participate.

“We raised a bunch of money to go to Worlds last year in Houston,” sophomore Isaac Stensing said. “We raise money for bus trips, hotels and competitions.”

The proceeds that the students generate from these fundraisers can also be used towards new equipment and supplies for these teams. 

 “The PHS girls swim and dive team really need new parkas,” sophomore Kate Miller said. “Parkas are really expensive, so we started doing some things to fundraise [for them].”

Whether it be for equipment, traveling or money for meals, students have come up with unique ideas to fundraise.

“We do a bunch of things, but our main fundraiser is the duck race,” sophomore Isaac Stensing said.  “[The duck race] is where we sell a bunch of ducks. Then we race them around the lazy river in the local Aquatic Center.” 

Community is a key aspect of the town of Powell. Some students have found ways to include more of the community with their fundraisers and target different age groups.

“For the PHS girls swim team fundraising, we are doing 50-50 raffle tickets and selling cotton candy at [sports] events,” Miller said. “Selling the cotton candy also gave us an opportunity to get involved with the community.”

There are many advantages to these fundraisers. One is that the students are able to spend quality time getting to know each other more by helping raise money for their school and clubs. 

“It was also a really good opportunity for team bonding,” Miller said. “ We all had a lot of fun making and selling the cotton candy, and we got to know our freshman a little better.”

The fundraisers overall have been a success, but there are always improvements to be made in the future.

“I would like to see this as an annual thing because it was a great way to do fundraising,” Bartholomew said. “There are just some fine details we need to work out which should be pretty easy to fix.”