During the month of March, banners and garlands of gold and green are strung across schools and workplaces to ring in the St. Patrick’s Day season. At PLHS, SkillsUSA brainstormed an idea to stay festive while benefiting their chapter: Leprechaun Grams.
For SkillsUSA, selling candy grams this year was a first time occurrence. However, the great minds of SkillsUSA leadership members such as junior Sarah Binkley and senior Sophia Ream thought alike, and helped plan a unique fundraiser that included more to the sale than just exchanges of candy and gratitude.
“[The officer team] came up with this idea,” Binkley said. “We planned out what days we were going to do it, what candies, how much we are going to sell them for and what the ‘pot of gold’ is going to be.”
SkillsUSA followed the normal standard of selling candy grams with their very own festive twist. This helped them stand out, and in turn raised more funds.
“You buy a piece of candy and send it to someone, or yourself,” Binkley said. “Every person who buys a candy gram gets entered into a raffle to win a ‘pot of gold’”.
The pot of gold was a care package of candy, items and more to further engage students into raising money. Gold was not only representative of a prize included with the Leprechaun Grams, however- it is the hope for SkillsUSA to make it to the state competition and win big.
“[The candy grams give] us the ability for people to go to state,” Ream said. “It helps those who may not be able to afford it be able to compete”.
This fundraiser helped Ream to recall her state experience from the previous year and to ensure that on behalf of the leadership team that members will have a great time this year.
“Last year I competed in Criminal Justice, and it was a great experience,” Ream said. “You get to meet a lot of cool people, and a lot of the kids from other schools who compete in state are super fun [and] super welcoming”.
On the other hand, Binkley is the president of PLHS SkillsUSA, but this year is her first time attending the state competition. She is actively contributing to the state-bound members, who have nearly tripled this time around, from four attendees to 11, with some anticipating leadership positions of their own.
“Architectural drafting and 3D Blueprint Reading are my jam, I’m really hoping I win,” Binkley said. “But also [I want to] grow closer with some of the underclassmen who are going to be officers next year.”
After naming two lucky raffle winners and selling candy grams across all corners of the building, SkillsUSA gained success in their fundraising efforts and are anticipating the state competition, manifesting success whether from their leadership team or new members. Most importantly, they are always looking for new students who are interested in participating.
