By Peter Warner ’19, Alex Cannella ’19
THE ROUNDUP
Student Council is completely self-funded and relies on money from events and dances to create revenue for future activities, according to Mr. Pete Burr ’07.
“The reality is we’re self-sufficient. We can only spend what we make,” Mr. Burr said. “The guys in there have to make financially smart decisions.”
Mr. Tony Oldani emphasized that STUCO receives no funding from the school.
“We get no money from the school,” said Mr. Oldani. “We generate our own revenue through our events, then we take that money and spend it on stuff.”
Senior Drew Burns ’18 has been involved in student government since his freshman year, and he said that the majority of money comes from dances.
“We make all the money that we spend,” said Drew Burns ’18. “Through dances we make a lot of our money.”
STUCO has three main areas of spending: large events, small activities and purchasing new equipment.
“We spend money on three big areas,” Mr. Oldani said. “Events are one big thing.”
The biggest events are Homecoming, Hoopcoming and Prom, based on attendance and funding.
For example, there were 2000 tickets available for Hoopcoming. STUCO anticipated giving away 5-10% away for free. They then know how much money they will have available for spending on the event based on ticket prices and estimated ticket sales.
STUCO calculates their budget based on previous events “We spend a certain amount of money assuming a certain amount of people are going to show up,” Mr. Burr said.
“A lot of that planning is working with outside companies that provide lights, sound and DJ’s,” Mr. Oldani said. “A lot of money goes into those things.”
STUCO uses a company named Satyr Entertainment to set up dances, including lighting, the stage and the speakers.
“This is my favorite (production company), I have really enjoyed working with them,” Mr. Burr said. “We have a really good relationship with Satyr. It feels like they are part of the class a lot of the time.”
Mr. Oldani said that working with Satyr has eased the burden of planning school events.
“We have got such good relationships with places like Satyr,” said Mr. Oldani.
Mr. Oldani said that STUCO now tries to do more than just dances and Friday Night Lights.
“Extra money from large events goes into small activities like tailgates and free breakfast,” Mr. Oldani said.
Junior Sammy Cibulka ’19 also said that STUCO is making strides to broaden its scope beyond dances.
“Most of the money we use funding for are activities most of the student body knows, like Homecoming, Hoopcoming, and Prom,” Cibulka said.. “Now we are focusing on promotional aspects.”
The ultimate goal of the funding and planning behind these dances are to make sure the student body has a good time.
“We start planning by asking what ways we can bring the community together,” Burns said.
Cibulka added that when it comes to having fun and building community, money is no object.
“We don’t care how much we spend as long as we get people there,” Cibulka said. “That is the end goal, we spend money because we want kids to have a good time.”
