As I throw myself into the wave of my fourth year working on Charity Ball, it is easy to look around and see how much the student group has grown over the years. Our goal is more streamlined. The administration and chain of command modernized and reorganized to give our fundraising a fresh, new, aerodynamic model. We are a far cry from the group that encouraged me to join because it would be “fun to hang out”. Our team has expanded from around 60 to over 80 students. Freshmen are now tasked with soliciting corporations for donations, arguably cashing in on the public interest in youth activism and their smiling young faces.
Amidst the chaos, it is easy to get sucked into this environment. To begin to evaluate situations and people based on their function. To look at Charity Ball as a perpetual service to school and society. A machine that inputs student enthusiasm, canvassing, and themes of community, and spits out obscenely large amounts of money. And while this definition is not expressly inaccurate, it is oversimplifying. It does not give credit to the more subtle ways by which Charity Ball impacts our community.
For many of the aforementioned freshmen, student government has been low on their list of responsibilities. In middle schools, it is no more than an excuse to skip an occasional period, nothing close to a prep class on the rigors of true civil or community service. Stepping into a high school environment that requires participation. It upholds daily responsibilities and goals that force action onto all of its members, and this action is in no way easy. It is a long and difficult road that forces its travelers to balance schoolwork, service, and other extracurriculars that crowd the time of a student. In parallel to professional service, it requires sacrifice and effort.
This model of a proper work ethic, existing with the intention of action (Being #AlivewithPurpose) is one that is now impressed upon all of us. Sending us into college and public service with an acceptance of the values of service, an understanding of what it takes to make a legitimate impact, and an appreciation for the gratification of seeing the effects of that impact. It is this preparation by which Charity Ball truly impacts society, creating a legion of social activists that have learned by doing.
Charity Ball is the seed, and from it will sprout a garden.
Ben Goldman
Senior Class Advisory
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