Wish Week is a structured, week-long fundraising campaign, typically organized by schools partnered with the Make a Wish foundation. The foundation’s goal is granting the wishes of children with critical illnesses. This year, Salida High School partnered with the Make a Wish Foundation to support Jude, who has a neuromuscular disorder. Jude’s wish was to go on a Disney cruise with his family. The fundraising goal was $5,000 and with all the different events, Student Council managed to reach our goal. The Salida High School Student Council planned multiple events throughout the week to raise money for Jude and also raised school spirit through different themes.
Student Council President Braeden Johnson said, “To personally help grant Jude’s wish was amazing. Being able to be a part of something bigger than myself made me feel a lot of compassion and purpose. I also enjoyed seeing all of the students participate in events and donate time and money to help Jude.” The themed days were chosen based on Jude’s favorite things. Some of his favorite things are Minecraft, Toy Story, playing tag, every color of the rainbow and mac and cheese.
The spirit days consisted of “Minecraft Monday,” where the halls were filled with green. On “Class Colors Tuesday,” seniors wore blue, juniors wore purple, sophomores wore green and freshmen wore red. Wednesday was Beach Day and Thursday was Bluey Day. Throughout the week, students showed school spirit and support for Jude by dressing on theme. Freshman Maggie Hughes stated that, “I love participating in spirit days because it makes my week more exciting.”
Not only did the Student Council plan themed days, but they also planned events each night to raise money. On Monday, anyone in the community could go to Mo Burrito and the Student Council received a portion of those profits. $500 were contributed to Jude’s fundraising goal from Mo. School wide tag also began on Monday and several teachers and students from advisories participated throughout the week. On Tuesday, there was a movie night at SHS showing Toy Story. On Wednesday, people played in a 4v4 sand volleyball tournament. The winners were sophomore Zy Boone, junior Lili Moutray, sophomore Zailee Saari and junior Hazel Brown, who each won $25. Boone said, “Wish week has been a super fun week to bond with other classmates and come together for a good cause.”
Thursday, the Student Council hosted a pickleball tournament for anyone in the community at 6:30. The winners from this were Chris Branson and his son Kaden Branson, who won $50. The last event of the week was 5 P.M. on Friday night at High Side where community members could play bingo while they enjoyed dinner.
Johnson explained that her favorite part of the week “was during our beach volleyball tournament when everyone was playing, watching, and cheering. It was a very successful event and brought together many different people from both the high school and middle school.” Johnson indicated that throughout the week, challenges arose but ultimately the event was successful. Student Council ran into many problems including advertising, receiving donations, creating age- and ability-inclusive events, deciding where events would be held, and finding those in the community to reach out to for help. Alongside all these fundraising events, people could donate all week and buy Wish week stars and T-shirts to support Jude.
Businesses that donated throughout the week were Absolute Bikes, Chill Ice Cream, Boat House Cantina, Y&K Construction, 7,000 Feet Running, Badfish Surf Shop, Pinon Real Estate, CJ and Company, Mojos Eatery, High Country Bank, Peak to Peak Pickleball Club, Buena Goods, Kaleidoscope Toys, Su Casa Furniture and Mo Burrito. Johnson said, “Both students and the community were extremely generous when it came to donations, and participation levels were through the roof. We had to increase our number of spots for both our volleyball and pickleball tournaments because so many people wanted to participate.”
The Student Council plans to do this event again next year for many reasons. Johnson stated, “It is perfect timing considering we don’t have many Student Council related events in the spring. It was very successful and Make-A-Wish is a great program to work with. Also, the student and community engagement was higher than any of our other week-long events and allowed us to bring more school spirit to SHS.” Overall, the week was super successful for raising school spirit and fundraising for Jude to go on his Disney Cruise.
