Where students’ art and accomplishments used to hang, there now lays a sign saying ‘Donate to the Puma Fund.’ You can’t walk through the halls without seeing it advertised somewhere along the walls. Directly spread out across the main hallway of University Prep hangs a ten foot long Annual Giving Poster.

The first time I saw the poster, it didn’t bother me too much. If anything I found it slightly comical; it wasn’t until junior college night when I felt “blah.” The annual fund committee took a solid 15 minutes out of the informational night to bore every junior to sleep by discussing how important and essential it was to donate to the Puma Fund this year. The annual fund committee has definitely gone overboard, but it only continued. They stopped cars as parents dropped off their kids and their booth took over the open house, and  there is even another banner on the sidewalk.

Don’t get me wrong, by any means I understand that UPrep is in the process of expanding our school and obviously there needs to be fundraised money to do so. I’m not here to argue that it’s wrong to be fundraising in one way or another, but really? A massive banner that it is the first thing you see as you walk into the school? It almost seems ungrateful or unappreciated for what parents already do for the school.

Last year, UPrep brought in a total revenue of 17,964,371 dollars and spent 16,289,786 leaving a massive amount of 1,674,585 to go towards school retreats, clubs, expansion, and any other desired school activities; yet there was no excessive in-our-face-funding, what prompted the change this year?

Families already pay $27,000 to go to the school and not every family is in the position to be giving up more money to the school. Not to mention if families already don’t  plan on donating to the Puma Fund, an obnoxious banner at the front of the school isn’t going to change their minds. There are other ways to remind people to donate such as a simple email reminder, newsletter, and website.

By Melissa Funes