The coupon book fundraiser has come back around for the 2012-2013 school year.
Every year, Foothill’s Associated Student Body hosts the fundraiser, during which students are asked take and sell coupon books in order to raise money for the school.
“[It] helps pay for our renaissance program and all the student activities that we have that are free for students at Foothill,” said ASB advisor Darcy Duffy.
“The coupon book fundraiser is vital for our school because this is the fundraiser that allows our school to go to Magic Mountain, that provides money and prizes for renaissance rallies and renaissance Fridays, for Air Guitar, for the sound system,” said ASB President Andre Sehati. “Anything that is Renaissance-related, school-related, this is the money that we use and that we need to be able to execute these certain programs.”
Another student, sophomore Jeffery Westlund, said that he feels obligated to sell the coupon books, even though he knows it’s not required of him to sell the books because he thinks that it’s beneficial to the school.
“Since the school goes through so much trouble to teach me stuff, I feel that I should fundraise, help it out,” said Westlund. “[However] they could add more variety to the fundraiser, instead of having the same coupon books every year.”
Senior Anthony Khodanian thinks differently of the program.
“It’s a good idea for the seller, bad idea for the buyer. Coupon books are a waste of money generally, [and] if I wouldn’t buy one, I don’t want to sell one,” he said.
A change was recently added by the ASB class to create more of an incentive for the students.
“[For] Winter Formal, people who sell five books, they get half-off single or couple tickets” said ASB representative Carlos Cohen.
Although the classroom collections for coupon books ended Tuesday, students who have yet to turn in unsold books or money can bring them to the quad stage during lunch any day this week. After Friday, students will be given obligations for all unreturned books.
A new legislation over pupil fees, Assembly Bill 1575, has caused concern over school finances, which may make the money from the coupon book fundraiser more crucial.
However, the fundraiser itself will most likely not be harmed by the bill.
“The Magic Mountain trip, we cannot require a fee, we can simply ask for voluntary donations, but the coupon books have always been a voluntary fundraiser, [so] I think that the fundraiser will bring in the same amount it typically has,” Duffy said. “[The] people who didn’t want to sell, never sold any,” she added.
“As a student as well, I know that this fundraiser is important for the school and it’s something that needs to be done, and because I genuinely care about these events that need to be executed, it is my duty to sell these books,” said Sehati.
