The student raffle is something that most Regina Dominican High School students are familiar with. Most students take part in raising money each year toward an end goal. Last year, the money paid for new gym bleachers and the year before, the money provided an outdoor space for the Regina community called the Panther Patio.

The newest addition to this year’s raffle drive was electronic ticketing. In the past, students sold paper tickets, which were collected on a weekly basis. Student representatives had to chart the ticket sales by collecting regularly during advisory and then placing the money and tickets in tiny plastic bags to be counted.

According to Regina’s Advancement Office, the paper booklets cost $1,000 to print and close to 15 mothers and 5 hours each week to collect, add, and coordinate the raffle sales.  With electronic purchasing, approximately $14,000 in tickets was sold the first week, which was double of what was sold last year.

Regina students, this year, were asked to raise a total of $40,000 in three, rather than the typical four weeks. Students were successful in reaching their goal and sold $42,000 worth of tickets, which guarantees a free day off from school, the Monday after Thanksgiving break.

This school year, in a school-wide poll, students were presented with four options for what their fund-raising would purchase. The choices were: lighting control equipment for the auditorium; new media center; classroom chairs; or water fountains. However, these four choices are a mystery regarding the process in which the four choice were discussed and chosen.

Ashley Benzol, advancement office events and volunteer coordinator, who is new to this job, said that these four choices were decided upon by student council, a few seniors, and some staff members.

When asked how student council came up with these ideas, Student Council President Gianna Sparacio 18′ said, “In the past, Ms. Speth, enrollment and recruitment associate, would come to one of our student council meetings to discuss ideas for where the money for our student raffle would be spent on; however, this year, no member of the advancement team formally came to a meeting to discuss ideas.”

Vice-President of Advancement, Joan Kitchie said there was such a meeting and that it took place on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 where both student council and leadership board members were present. Ms. Speth said the meeting took place in the chapel and that only ten people came to the meeting.

Natalie Hamilton, vice-president of the leadership board, does not remember any such meeting or being asked to attend.

During the fall, a survey with the four choices were sent to the entire student body. This poll netted an 84 student response. According to the results listed below, 50% of the 84 respondents indicated chairs as their choice; 22.6% said a new Media Center; 16.7% new light equipment and 10.7% additional water fountains.

Each year, students hope that money raised will be used for air-conditioning for the school, especially on the third floor. The Advancement Office indicated that air-conditioning would take almost 35 raffles to raise the money and would cost the school close to $2 million to accomplish.

During and after the raffle drive, students have voiced their opposition to raising money for new school chairs. Student Annie Klapperich 18′ said, “It could be used for better things, such as charity or the bathrooms.”

Peyton Flores 18′ stated, “I feel like it’s a waste of money because we already have chairs. We don’t need more.”

Others have indicated the money could be used to restructure the CRC or for more comfortable chairs and tables in the LRC.

The chairs under consideration come with a $300-$400 price tag for one chair.  The decision of which classes will get the new chairs has not yet been determined, but will most likely be those classrooms with older chairs.

With the $42,000 raised this year along with a typical classroom of 20 students,  a total of  5 classrooms would receive these new chairs.

Although the choices for the money had the interests of the students in mind, most students remain unhappy or indifferent with the outcome.

Ms. Tully, an English teacher, believes the students would like to have these chairs in her classroom. She stated that the chairs “won’t hinder her teaching,” and that “it will definitely help with group projects.”

One faculty member said, “it will be nice because a lot of times I want students to group up, so this will be nice without having to move huge desks, but, it’s only select classrooms. The question is will these chairs cause ill feelings among faculty members. I’m curious to learn how the classrooms are being selected.”

Mrs. Houston, English teacher doesn’t particularly like the idea of having wheels on chairs stating, “I have wheels on my chairs in my classroom, which is great when students are collaborating, but, most of the time, students are easily distracted by the wheels and spend more time rolling back and forth on their chairs during each class period. The chairs they are thinking of purchasing look really cool, but I can see many students enjoying the chairs a little too much and playing bumper cars with them!”

Overall, this year’s raffle drive was a success. Yet, for most students in order to make the raffle a true student raffle, all students need to have a voice in both the ideas and the final decision of what the money will purchase.

This year, the choice of chairs begs the question…should chairs still be the final decision if the majority of the student body is not pleased with the choice?