Fundraising Campaign 2015 – Ghirardelli Chocolates

As we discussed in practice recently, our first official fundraising activity for the season will be to sell Ghirardelli Chocolates. (This will be the first of a few activities that we will doing to raise money for the club.) If you’re not familiar with Ghirardelli, they are one of very few American manufacturers that make chocolate from the cocoa bean through to finish products. They sell a number of chocolate products, from squares and bars to hot cocoa and baking products. I’ve received the order forms and posters for the campaign, and I will hand these out to you at our next practice on Tuesday, November 18. We have a group goal and individual goals for this campaign, all of which we will discuss at our next practice session.

Remember, all of our fundraising efforts are for hosting our own fencing tournament in the spring. We have some work to do, but getting a head start on all of this will help us to reach our goal.

If you want a look at our fundraising brochures, you can download a copy of one of them from this link: Ghirardelli Holiday Brochure. And if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can line up some sales before you pick up your official brochure this week.

Curious about fencing? Check it out!

In case you haven’t heard yet, our callouts are scheduled for tomorrow at 9:06 am and at 3:00 pm. This will be a great opportunity for newbies to check out the fencing club and to learn about what we have in store for the upcoming season. No previous experience is required–only a willingness to learn and a sense of adventure! Returning members should be prepared to practice on Tuesday. (That’s a big hint–bring your equipment.) And, as an added incentive, the first 30 students that turn in their completed registration forms will receive a $10 gift card to our swag shop.

For parents and interested family members, we will also have a couple of parent information meetings to answer all the questions that they may have. If you can’t make it to either of the callout sessions, come to one of the following meetings to learn about fencing and answer all of your parents’ questions at the same time:

Parent Information Meeting 1 – Friday, October 10 at 6:30 pm @ Harrison HS B101BC
Parent Information Meeting 2 – Saturday, October 11 at 11:00 am @ Tippecanoe County Library, Klondike Branch, Tempest Room (3062 Lindberg Road, West Lafayette,  765-463-5893)

I strongly encourage you to attend, even if you’re just a little bit curious about fencing. And you do not need to come to both meetings. We’ll have some light refreshments, and anyone who is interested can come. (Bring your friends, parents and family, but no pets, please!). I’ll go over what the club is all about, what you’ll learn, everything about equipment, and more!

I hope to see you all there!

End of Year Survey – How Did We Do?

This was our second year at Harrison with a fencing club, and personally, I feel things went very well. It was good to see new faces as well as fencers returning from the previous year. And I’m always pleased to see how quickly you have all grasped the fundamentals of our sport.

To prepare for next year, I need your help. By getting your feedback on being part of the fencing club, we can make adjustments for next year. Your input is critical, so please click the link below and complete the survey. I encourage you to give your honest opinion–your survey will remain anonymous. And if you have anything that you want to get off your chest or share that is not covered by the questions, you can do so at the end of the survey.

So, please fill out the survey (see link below). As always, if you have any questions, just let me know!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QrKh2_D-hGb8NwGi4FbMCi0VjdqykA9IeDtxTCoNXek/viewform

HHSFC Holiday Swag – Save 10%

From now until December 15 (11 pm PST) you can save 10% on your customized club gear at our shop. Just use the promo code DEC222 when checking out – Shop now!

Every purchase helps the club by giving us a portion of the sale. And with that money, we can purchase the equipment we need for competitions. Spread the word!

Put On Your Thinking Caps

We’ve completed our first fundraiser, and thankfully we were able to raise some funds for the club. Now that we are past the Thanksgiving holiday and into the start of fencing season, we are in need of some bright ideas on what to do for our next fundraiser.

So put on your favorite thinking cap and come up with some bright ideas. If your parents or friends have an idea of what we can do for our next fundraiser, please pass it on. We have a stiff goal to reach ($5,500), and we have quite a hill to climb if we intend to get equipment for competitions. We have some equipment loans which help us in reaching our goal. By borrowing the equipment for the season, we don’t have to raise as much money to purchase the equipment we need. Discuss it with your teammates, friends, family, cousins, etc. and let’s see what bright ideas we can put into action!

If you have any questions about our budget and what we’re raising money for, contact any of the club officers or myself.

Current fundraising progress as of 11/30/13

Fundraising Schedule

Here is a copy of the fundraising schedule:

November 12th

• Morning (7:10-7:20~)
  • Jacob G.
  • Jacob M.
  • Jack S.
• Afternoon (2:30-2:50~)
  • Grace H.
  • Sarah M.
  • David T.

November 19th

• Morning (7:10-7:20~)
  • Heather B.
  • Jacob M.
  • Jack S.
• Afternoon (2:30-2:50~)
  • Luis M.
  • Devin N.
  • Jack S.
  • Kiyomi T.

November 26th

• Morning (7:10-7:20~)
  • Jacob G.
  • Jacob M.
  • Jack S.
• Afternoon (2:30-2:50~)
  • Grace H.
  • Logan K.
  • Sam S.
  • David T.

December 3rd

• Morning (7:10-7:20~)
  • Kyler B.
  • Heather B.
  • Luz R.
• Afternoon (2:30-2:50~)
  • Grace H.
  • Sarah M.
  • Devin N.
  • Jack S.

Know your times. Make sure all of the money earned makes it to our Treasurer, Sam. Do not eat a cinnamon roll without exchanging it with money. Be polite and courteous even if the customers are not. Don’t do anything stupid. Smile. 😀

Letter to Harrison Fencers

Hello!

I hope that you are doing well, and that the start of the new school year has been smooth for you. We are a little over a month away from the start of a new fencing season, and I just wanted to keep you informed on what’s in store.

My plans are to start sometime in the first or second week of October, and to kick everything off with a parent-student informational meeting. We have several high school teams interested in competing with us at dual meets or tournaments, so if you are interested in interscholastic fencing, things are about to get really exciting! Additionally I will be introducing an achievement level system where fencers can earn stripes, chevrons or badges for each skill level they complete. I will explain this system at the introductory meeting I hope to have in October.

I have been looking forward to this new season all summer long and have been making plans to make the 2013-2014 fencing season even better than last year. In order to have a club at Harrison this year, however, we have one obstacle to overcome: finding a teacher willing to sponsor the club.

Several of our teammates have asked a few teachers already to sponsor the club, but so far we have not had a commitment from anyone yet. Ideally we would be fundraising now, selling cinnamon rolls (and hopefully not eating too many of them!), accumulating vital funds for tournament expenses and transportation. So until we are able to find a sponsor, we are unable to officially work as a club and as a team.

If you are interested in having a fencing club at Harrison this year, I would strongly encourage you to contact your teammates and figure out which teachers to approach about being the club sponsor for this year and then start talking to each of them. I know that you are all capable of many things; I’ve seen this for myself working with each of you. Now is the time to act! Work together by whatever means you can: phone, face-to-face conversations, email, social media, etc. If you need any help from me, just let me know. I’m ready to jump in at any time!

All the best,
Coach Schafer

Gift Cards for T-Shirts

They’re here! I’ve received a small batch of $10 gift cards for our online shop. If you want to get your HHS Fencing t-shirt or other apparel, see me about a $10 gift card to use toward your purchase. These gift cards expire on 4/30/13, so get ’em while we have ’em. The club gets a portion of every sale made from the online store, so spread the word!

I will distribute these at our practice on Tuesday (2/19/13). If you won’t be at practice that day, I will leave any remaining gift cards with Mr. Cahee so you can pick one up from him. If you’re reading this and you are not a Harrison HS student, contact me and I can arrange to have one sent to you.

Get Your T-Shirts Here!

In case you haven’t noticed the banner ad on the right side of your page, we now have an online store for t-shirts and other apparel. You can even customize your shirts with different HHS Fencing logos, add your name on your shirt, etc. There are no minimums to purchase, and you can buy online at any time.

So, pick out your favorite shirt and buy it today!