UNICEF club prepares for Snowflake Ball fundraiser

Connie+Xu+%289%29+and+Mishu+Nitulescu+%2810%29+discuss+ideas+for+the+backdrop+that+will+be+used+at+the+photo+booth.+The+Snowflake+Ball+took+place+on+February+27th+at+Piedmont+Hills+high+school.

Neil Bai

Connie Xu (9) and Mishu Nitulescu (10) discuss ideas for the backdrop that will be used at the photo booth. The Snowflake Ball took place on February 27th at Piedmont Hills high school.

by Neil Bai, Reporter

Harker’s UNICEF club along with other schools hosted the Snowflake Ball on February 27 at Piedmont Hills high school.

Other than Harker, Silver Creek high school, Independence High, and Milpitas High, and the host, Piedmont Hills high school, also participated in the event.

The tickets cost 15 dollars and all the proceeds went to the syrian refugee crisis. UNICEF Spokesperson Chandni Jain introduced the event by giving a speech on what the organization has been and will be doing to aid the cause.

Harker members were assigned to work on the media portion of the event. They documenedt the ball by taking photos and video and put together a compilation. In addition, they set up a banner where people at the dance wrote messages on, and a photo booth where people could get their picture taken.

“We have to make backdrops and plan for all the media, but otherwise the venue is relatively small so setting up the actual physical event shouldn’t be that bad,” officer and media team member Andrew Chang (9) said. “It’s been fun because everyone gets to come together and help paint the backdrops.”

The club is aiming towards raising over 2000 dollars by the end of the year. So far, they have raised around 1600 dollars from their “Trick or Treat” and “Nerf” fundraisers. The club’s LEAP(Leading Effective Awareness through Photography) project was also recognized by UNICEF’s newsletter and posted on its social media accounts.

President Alex Mo (11), who was selected as one of the National Council Officers of UNICEF, believes that a large part of the club’s success could be attributed to the amount of members the club gained in their first year.

“Its inspiring to see so many high school students come together to support a cause so global and important as the crisis.” he said. “I definitely did not expect us to end up with over 200 signed up members.”

After the Snowflake ball, the club plans on improving the structure of the club itself.

“We had a lot of officers this year, and that made organization challenging,” Alex said. “By decreasing the size of the team and increasing interaction with members, I believe that we will have more ideas and more events in the future.”

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on March 3, 2016.