One unique aspect about Jefferson that provides students with more opportunities to explore various skills and pursue their interests is the eighth period clubs. They range from science-related clubs such as Science Olympiad to writing groups like Threshold. There are even groups like the eSports club and TJ Unplugged that offer students a break from academics. In order to fund many of their activities, these clubs host bake sales in between eighth periods. Besides allowing students to purchase a sweet treat after a long day at school, these bake sales allow clubs to afford the various activities and events that they have throughout the year as well as purchase necessary club materials.
Despite the short duration of these fundraisers, there is a lot of thought and behind the scenes work that go into them. Often, it is the treasurer of a club that plans and coordinates these bake sales.
“You get a form from the eighth period office, then you check the availability dates and you give the form to [your sponsor],” sophomore Band Council Treasurer Dhivij Bhooma said.
Once the club is able to reserve a spot for the bake sale by taking these steps, the club must figure out how to obtain the baked goods and food to sell without spending a large sum of the club’s funds.
“[There’s a] kid in our club [and] his mom offered to bake us 70 cupcakes for free,” senior co-Captain of Academic Decathlon Ipsa Mahajan said. “She’s a professional baker and this kid [said], ‘my mom is willing to do it for free.’”
However, not all clubs are lucky enough to receive a large donation from one member. Most clubs rely on the contributions of various members when planning bake sales.
“All the band students will donate food before school starts and we’ll collect them in the band room,” Bhooma said.
The 2029 Class Council recently hosted a bake sale as well, making it their first form of fundraising for the year.
“The bake sale was organized a lot by our sponsors since we were [recently] elected and told our positions last Wednesday,” freshman Class Council Treasurer Michelle Kim said.
They relied on the freshman class for baked good donations.
“We sold baked goods like cookies, brownies [and] donuts,” Kim said. “We had some other stuff like rice krispies and popcorn.”
Although the Class Council does not have an immediate need for money, they are able to raise money consistently through such events to save up for future uses.
“The money for now is just going to go into a general [Class of 2029] funding,” Kim said. “[In the future], we’ll decide [what to use it for].”
Regardless of the fact that there are various ways to fundraise as a club, Jefferson clubs are able to rely heavily on bake sales as a main source of fundraising for the year. A bake sale can be a simple and easy way for clubs to obtain money throughout the year for various uses.
“It’s a good way to raise funds for the band because a lot of different students can donate,” sophomore Dhivij Bhooma said.