TD juniors aim for Disneyland

Organizers are taking a new tactic with fundraising: they plan to sell chocolate covered cherries and blueberries to tourists visiting town with the cruise ships.

An estimated 18,000 people will file off the cruise ships between now and November, and reaching this untapped market for local fundraising purposes could be a “game changer,” said Kim Cowan, chair of the senior party committee.

Typically, fundraising starts the fall of senior year, but because the cost is so much higher for this trip, and because organizers wanted to take advantage of the cruise ship season, fundraising is starting June 1, or when the current senior class quits selling cherries.

The typical fundraising goal is for each senior to sell 30 bags of chocolate covered cherries. But this group has a much higher goal of selling 100 bags per student. For this class of around 200, that’s about 20,000 bags of cherries.

Also, the longstanding $10 per bag price was raised to $12. Cowan said the price hadn’t increased in about 10 years, and the cost of cherries had gone up. From each $10 bag, net proceeds were only $2.75, she said.

The ambitious goal for the senior party has not been without detractors. A heated three-hour meeting took place earlier this month after the trip destination was revealed in mid-April, and parents voiced concerns about student safety on the trip and also concerns that many students could not afford to go.

Talk began at that meeting of having a second party for students who cannot afford or do not want to go to Disneyland.

To pursue that possibility of a second party, a parent meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25 at The Dalles Middle School.

An announcement for that meeting stated that “The Dalles High School class of 2017 parents will hold a planning meeting for the senior class drug and alcohol free party…” It states, “There is currently one option on the table and a second option will be discussed. There will be information to look over, discuss and vote on, on behalf of your child. Please attend and help make next year’s celebration a great one for the class.”

While some parents worried about their child’s safety at the theme park, Cowan said a trip to Disneyland is a standard grad night event in California.

A Disneyland trip is also not unprecedented for The Dalles High School, since the band went there a few years ago.

Cowan said it is the organizers’ goal that every single graduating senior is able to go on the trip.

But one parent, who called the Chronicle but asked not to be named, said she feels the fundraising goals are not realistic or achievable.

“It’s going to price a lot of kids right out of it,” the parent said. “It’s just a travesty.”

She said in past years, some kids have struggled to sell even 30 bags of chocolate covered cherries, let alone 100, and many don’t have the connections to sell to numerous people like some other students might have.

She also said parents weren’t notified of planning meetings.

Cowan said she reached out as many ways as she knew how, including via Facebook, and through parent-teacher conference night. The trip destination was settled on after about 20 people on the organizing committee voted on it, with just one opposing vote.

The school is not connected to the senior party and for student privacy reasons, it will not share student home addresses with other parents.

The unnamed parent said other class party organizers had paid the school to send out flyers for them.

The unnamed parent said, “So now they want to divide the parents so the ones that want to have the drug and alcohol-free party, you’re kind of on your own, but you have to fight them for the cherry money.”

Cowan said students will be working to the common good, as a class. “Whether you sell 200 bags or you sell three, you’re going [to Disneyland] because you made the effort,” she said.

Cowan said she has conservatively estimated it will cost $650 per student for their airfare, motel and entrance for two days in Disneyland. She will be able to get a firm figure in July when the airlines announce prices.

Cowan also asked students to set aside $150 for food costs. She said that would be $10 a month if they started saving now.

The unnamed parent said that was too low an estimate — she felt $300 to $400 was more realistic — and it would price many kids out of the trip.

“So basically, they’ll take the kids that have connections and able to sell, plus $400 pocket change to feed themselves, that’s the group that they’re going to take and the rest of them, well, whatever,” the parent said.

Cowan said if students can’t save that much, that won’t be a barrier to going on the trip.

“The only way a child’s not going is if they do not meet graduation requirements, or if they or their parents do not want them to go,” Cowan said.

The real thrust behind the Disneyland trip is to motivate students to graduate, said another parent organizer, Dawn Hert.

She said a group of parents started getting together last fall with an eye toward improving graduation rates.

When another group — now dubbed the grassroots committee — also formed for that task, the parents turned their attention elsewhere, but still with boosting graduation in mind.

Hert said the group decided to bring up graduation rates by having “a substantial goal for the kids, kind of like a prize. It’s kind of like that little golden carrot and that’s giving them something to work towards.”

Hert is concerned that some people consider the trip divisive. “We want this to be united, this is one class.”

The parents are even working on ways to accommodate special needs students, she said. Hert said the trip already has numerous details ironed out. Cowan — who said she came up with the idea of the trip because “I love Disneyland” — is even taking a trip down there soon to do a walk-through of the Disney property where students will be staying to nail down every detail, including security requirements.

The organizers will arrange to have things like water and snacks shipped to the motel, for the chaperones to distribute to kids, Hert said. None of the kids will have their own room keys, and the trip will be required by Disney to have one chaperone for every 10 kids, she said.

Other details are also lined out already. The huge group will have its own line at the airport, and students will only be allowed carry-on luggage.

A grandparent with a student in the class is a travel agent and will be handling travel arrangements, Cowan said.

Particulars are also being sorted for the fundraising to the cruise passengers. The group got permission from city hall to set up shop on the city-owned dock where the ships arrive.

Cowan is hoping to make arrangements with the cruise ships to allow any sales to people exiting the ship to be stored aboardship so they don’t have to pack around the treats as they wander around town or go on bus tours.

She also hopes to work with the bus drivers on the tour buses to hand out flyers promoting the cherry sales.

The group has purchased a credit card reader to facilitate sales and has a red cart to display the one-pound bags of treats. The group plans to pass along the card reader to the next graduating class.

Hert said about 16 mentors are already signed up to help students with fundraising goals and their studies, and to just be a “cheerleader” for them.

Each mentor has about 10 or 12 students to work with, and each mentor has passed a criminal background check.

Hert said more mentors are needed for next year, and she asked anyone interested in helping to call her at 541-980-0374.

Starting in the fall, the parent organizers will also provide monthly Disney-themed motivational prizes to students, and even teachers.

And while the group has embarked on a huge undertaking, it isn’t the first time they’ve done it.

Four of the parents – including Cowan and Hert — are from The Dalles High School’s class of 1989. That was the first year graduation was held outside, and the first year that the senior class party was held outside of The Dalles.

So, these trailblazers, now parents themselves, have set the bar even higher for their own children.

Hert said, “I’m up for the challenge, I really am. I think this is amazing, absolutely amazing.”