Senior Fundraisers by Benji Boyd, Senior, Editor-in-Chief
Heading into the second semester, many MHS senior’s minds are already drifting towards May and June. As the exciting events of senior week grow ever nearer, our senior class student council is working hard to raise the funds to make them all possible. Recently, the MHS community has started to take note of how frequently the class of 2025 hosts fundraisers, and wonder where all this money is going. To find answers to these questions, I reached out to our senior class president Jared Kaplowitch for comment.
“I feel that we cannot have enough fundraisers,” said Kaplowitch. “The more money and support we get from each fundraiser helps us reach our goals of keeping costs as low as possible for each student.”
Thanks to their efforts thus far, senior prom tickets are already projected to cost under $100 for each student. This is a pretty good deal, especially considering that this year’s exciting new venue. After several years at the House of Blues, the senior prom of 2025 will be held at the State Room in Boston, an event center overlooking an impressive view of the Custom House Tower and the Quincy Market neighborhood.
For seniors who have been consistently supporting our restaurant fundraisers throughout the year, this promise of reduced ticket prices should come as no surprise. According to Kaplowitch, a fundraiser could raise anything from $100 to $1,000, depending on where and when it is held. Chipotle and Panera have been classic favorites for class fundraisers over the years, but this year the senior class has branched out to new locations, including Cookie Monstah, Flip the Bird, and QDOBA.
The process for partnering with a restaurant begins by reaching out to a franchise through a correspondent to its corporate office, or by contacting the owner of a local business directly. The percentage of the night’s earnings that the restaurant will donate depends on the location, but the partnership benefits both the business and the senior class by bringing in more customers.
In the past these events have helped our student government break even for the Sophomore Semi Formal and Junior Prom, while continuing to save up for senior year. “I’ve always been a firm believer in saving our money for senior year,” commented Kaplowitch, adding that all $40,000 we earned from our junior class auction has been saved for this year.
As the months begin to fly by, seniors have their student government and all the families who have supported our fundraisers to thank for the exciting things on the horizon. Until then, Kaplowitch reminds everyone to attend our upcoming fundraisers at Panera on Tuesday, February 25, and QDOBA on Tuesday, March 11, both from 4 to 8 PM.
The Unseen Threat of Plastic by Anna Baughman, Sophomore
The levels of harm, waste, and pollution from plastic has long since been a widespread concern. We see the dangers of plastic on the environment and all kinds of wildlife. But what about the dangers/threats that it poses to humans? The thought never really crossed my mind until I read a commentary article recently published in the Phillipian, Phillip’s Academy’s student newspaper. I did some more research, and was surprised at the toxins found in many common plastics, more specifically those used for food. So, in an effort to help spread awareness on this topic, I’d like to talk about it too.
We use plastic for so much, including utensils, food containers/packages, and cookware. These plastics are used with the food that we eat and can spread toxic chemicals, especially when heated. Plastics used for electronics often contain flame retardant chemicals for safety purposes. However, this plastic is frequently recycled and used in black plastic kitchenware. In the findings of a scientific investigation done by Buyun Liu, MD, PhD; Hans-Joachim Lehmler, PhD, “PBDE [a flame retardant] exposure was significantly associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality.” I found many other articles and investigations that came to similar conclusions.
According to a team of researchers at PlasticChem, “There are at least 16 000 known plastic chemicals that are potentially used or present in plastics”. They go on to say that out of the 16,000, Over 4200 plastic chemicals (25%) are hazardous to human health or the environment. According to a CNN article, “In the United States, the regulatory process requires proof of an individual chemical’s harm before action can be taken. Critics of this approach say this allows industry to change a small molecule in that chemical’s structure, effectively sending scientists back to the lab to prove that the chemical harms the body in the same way as its predecessor.” This makes getting rid of these chemicals so much harder. So, you can imagine how harmful these plastics are to us AND to the animals that may ingest them. That being said, more research will have to be done to truly determine the harm in some of the plastics that we use.