Fish Tank Fundraiser

The 18-by-48 inch fish tank was placed in the library on the first day of school, and the eight fish were placed in there one week later. However, Vice Principal Britt Haney realized that the $500 for the fish tank allocated from the new library’s budget and was only enough for the installation and the fish.

Haney emailed StuCo teacher Brenda Fishman inquiring if StuCo could help raise the money for decorations in the fish tank. The fish tank is home to eight goldfish,but only has a blue pebble terrain across the bottom. Sophomore Rose Kanaley and senior Carson Jones took action to upgrade the fish tank. Kanaley and Jones are the StuCo “charity committee chairs” – the people who raise money for school activities and school property.

After they visited the library, they agreed there was more to add to the fish tank, so they contacted Haney to see what they could do about it.

To fundraise for the fish tank, they placed brown paper bags placed in every first hour teachers mailboxes on Monday, Sept. 17. The money will be collected on Friday, Sept. 21 at the end of first hour in the bags. The goal is $500.

“I think if anyone were to see the fish tank, they would feel the same way as me,” Kanaley said. “I think about putting myself in their shoes with nothing to do. It really just looks pathetic.”

Whichever class raises the most money, will get the privilege of naming the new fish that will be added into the fish tank and host a doughnut party during first hour provided by StuCo. The remaining money will go to decorations for the fish tank including artificial plants, rocks the fish can swim through or hide in and any ideas the winner attributes. This will hopefully encourage the students to participate, according to Kanaley.

Sophomore Addison Carroll agrees that the fish tank looks pathetic right now. However, she thinks $500 is unnecessary for a fish tank when it could be used for something that is relevant to her or goes to a good cause.

“I think it’s great that we’re coming together raising money as a school,” Carroll said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love animals. I even have two fish. But honestly, I think there are better things to put the students’ money toward.”

Students like Carrol believe that if the office already paid for the fish tank, there is no reason to pay them back. But Kanaley thinks that if the students pay the office back, the students could make the tank more entertaining for the fish and visually decorated.

“I really hope the fundraiser will go as planned,” Jones said. “We are planning on putting plaques behind the fish tank with the class winners and what fish they named. If I didn’t run this I’d want my own class to win.”