Credit: Courtesy of: Conrad Gees

Class of 2028 executive board poses for a photo for the yearbook. The Class of 2028 recently broke the freshman fundraising record by making around $15,000 so far.

The Class of 2028 executive board recently broke the record for the most money raised as a freshman class in school history. While the school year has not yet reached its final quarter, the Class of 2028 already raised around $15,000, with more fundraisers being planned to increase this number.

So what exactly does this fundraising record mean for the Class of 2028? According to freshman treasurer Junyi Frenzel, all of this money is going towards the sophomore semi-formal dance, which is typically held in the fall but is set to be in March or early April of next year. This switch gives the e-board even more time to raise money for the event. This money means that ticket prices will be lower and the quality of the venue will be higher. Details regarding the venue are not yet available, but e-board officers are currently looking at hotels and country clubs.

“[We are looking at] venues, what food will be provided, the DJ and if they want to have other activities, like a photo booth,”  Class of 2028 co-advisor Jennifer Reed said.

The money raised comes from a variety of fundraisers including a merchandise fundraiser selling articles of clothing designed by the e-board, a trivia night for parents and a Gold Athletics cookie dough sale.

“I think our willingness to adapt to other people’s ideas [made us successful],” freshman class president Vikrant Chaudhry said. “You just need to understand that sometimes your idea will be good, but it won’t be the best one and then be willing to help other ideas.”

The most successful fundraiser so far was the Gold Athletics cookie dough fundraiser, which profited around $6,800. According to Chaudry, the fundraiser was proposed by Class of 2028 co-advisor Scott Parseghian.

The cookie dough fundraiser hadn’t been used since before 2020. According to Parseghian, the reason behind this fundraiser’s success was the fact that it had not been seen for years, so it felt fresh and new, as well as the addition of an online platform. Students could use the Gold Athletics app to sell the cookie dough to people all over the country, such as family members or friends living outside of Wayland. This allowed them to reach a far wider group of people as opposed to when it used to be a door-to-door fundraiser.

The Class of 2028 e-board’s second most successful fundraiser was the trivia night on Friday, March 14. The event took place at 7 p.m. at Sandy Burr Country Club and raised more than $2000 in profits. According to Reed, this fundraiser was particularly important as it brought the parents of the class together as a community that would stay together for the following years in WHS.

“Parents were able to talk and come together the way we want students to,” Reed said.

The merchandise from the clothing fundraiser was all designed by e-board members and then voted on by the freshman class on a Google form. According to freshman e-board member Drew Galizio, members designed prints for the clothing in Canva before the advisors reached out to potential manufacturers, where the products were made and shipped back, ready to be sold.

“It’s really nice being a part of a group that gets to make decisions for our grade,” Galizio said.

While the merchandise fundraiser was not necessary to break the previous record of $7,613 held by the Class of 2022, it left the class with a grand total of $10,258 profit, which opened an even larger margin.

“It meant a lot how much our community was willing to help out and support our fundraiser and our class,” Chaudhry said.