By Paige DeLuca It’s right before school starts, and I, along with much of our student body, was excited to immerse myself in countless activities and sports, but before any participation, I was given this notice: “To participate in any sport or out of school activity, you must pay a fee of $100.” Activity fees have always been thought out to be too high. As the fees increase, the parents of the students fill with rage. Most students are under the impression that the school just wants more money and doesn't need it. A student at Wilson High School who wishes to keep their name anonymous stated, “The school is funding football and stadium maintenance over arts programs and the marching band.” The student's statement can be backed up by the 83.3% of students that believe most of the school money is going to football in regards to a school wide survey I conducted. In actuality, the stadium houses more than just our football team; it includes sports such as field hockey, soccer and lacrosse. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no favoritism in the Wilson High funding process despite how popular Friday football games are. No activity needs the same amount of money each year, therefore that extra money may go toward another activity or sport. Wilson High School's Cross Country cost is about $150 per student; the cheapest sport at the school according to Mr. Kauffmann, Wilson’s Director of Athletics, while our school-wide activity fee is $100 for a student to pay once a year for as many activities as they want. With cross country being $150 and the fee being only $100, it’s been analyzed that Wilson High School is paying $50 per student that involves themselves in an activity at the bare minimum. Mr. Kauffmann believes WHS tries to encourage students to get involved with sports as much as they can, so they try to make the activity fee as low as they can. The Wilson athletic department gets two million dollars, which are mainly spent to pay for coaches, uniforms, and equipment. Since Wilson has so many sports, it becomes difficult to cover it all without an activity fee. According to a survey of 265 students, nearly 10% of student's cannot afford the fee per child - but there are programs that Wilson provides to compensate for families with money difficulty. If there are three kids all playing sports in a family, the fourth child will be able to play a sport for free. If that is not the case with your particular family, then the payments could be either spread out over months or lowered. Despite outrage and angst towards our school-wide activity fee, it is essential to keep the fee if we want to keep athletic excellence at our school. The next time you complain about the fee, just remember it could be a lot more costly with stricter parameters
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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