Life in Shishmaref includes an endless stream of fundraising. Shishmaref School pretty much has a monopoly on anything we decide to sell (no Wal-Mart, no McDonald's, no Dollar Store, no Seven-Eleven, no competition...). This works out well for school organizations that want to earn money.

As a class advisor, I have handled tens of thousands of dollars helping my classes sell pop, pizza, cotton candy, cheap plastic recorders, Christmas cookies, Halloween cookies, gumballs, rub-on tattoos, green and white tie-dyed t-shirts, carnival tickets, calendars, and everything else.

My seventh graders are currently selling gigantic jawbreakers. They are a huge hit (as evidenced by the adorable girl above who couldn't eat her jawbreaker fast enough). The seventh graders have sold candy and toys at every school event this year. They are super enthusiastic about fundraising. This is a good thing, but sometimes I feel like I have a part-time job managing a snack and toy shack.

(This is a picture to prove how helpful the Class of 2013 is. The class treasurer comes over to my house after games to help me count money.)

All of the money classes earn goes toward their Senior Trip. All of the hard work is worth it when we get to send kids on an experience of a lifetime. For most of the students, it is their first trip out of state.

The Class of 2007 chose to go to Hawaii for their Senior Trip. This was especially cool because...

Steve and I got to go too! It was awesome. We had a great time with the kids, and I fell in love with Hawaii.

The fundraising is definitely a ton of work, but the trips make it mostly worth it.