Because of a lack of funds, the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) canceled the after prom event.

“We, as an organization, decided that it would be more beneficial to use our limited funds for scholarships since most kids said they were not going to come back to an after prom held at the school,” PTSA President Clari Fennell said.

The inclement weather days greatly impacted the group’s ability to raise funds for after prom and scholarships, she said.

“A large fundraiser of ours was cancelled because it (a half-day) was (rescheduled as) a regular school day,” Fennell said. “Those funds were going to be used to allow us to give additional scholarships to our senior class.”

This will be the first year a senior class will not have the event.

“The idea behind holding an after prom is to keep the students safe and in an alcohol/drug free environment,” Fennell said. “(Also) it was more of the issue of lack of participation.”

Senior Alyssa Medina said most students wouldn’t go to an after prom even if the school paid for one.

“People would rather go to parties or stay with friends than be stuck all night in one place with chaperones,” she said.

Along with the lack of participation, the ticket sales “just weren’t there,” PTSA Vice President Vanessa Blaylock said.

“Although we host the after prom to keep our students safe, it would not have served its purpose this year,” she said. “Students were not interested or willing to buy tickets even with adjustments.”

Fennell said that the PTSA tried to get more people involved on numerous occasions.

“We (made) multiple attempts to engage parents and the senior class to give us input (about) ideas that were going to be financially (reasonable) and there really was not a lot of feedback or interest,” she said.

After the traditional chocolate bar fundraisers were cancelled due to state nutritional laws, the senior class sold cookie dough to try and make up for lost profit.

“The chocolate did well all the previous years,” Medina said. “(But) not a lot of people want to pay $16 for cookies.”

Due to the law, the senior class wasn’t able to use the same methods of fundraising.

“We have not been able to sell the cookies that the students love,” Fennell said. “We are required to sell a healthier, whole-grain cookie.”

The regulations also reduced the amount of money that was raised, she said.

“That type of cookie is more expensive than the ones we were able to sell in the past and that has cut our profit margins,” Fennell said.

Blaylock said contribution from everyone will help for next year.

“To have better fundraising, the entire staff and students have to be supportive on any idea,” she said.

The amount of scholarship money that the PTSA offered seniors is also affected.

“The past few years PTSA has been able to provide as many as eight $500 scholarships to qualified candidates,” Fennell said. “This year we are only going to be able to give two $500 and two $250 scholarships.”

Fennell said she wants everyone to help contribute to the school.

She said, “(This) is our home, we need to make sure our students and teachers are taken care of.”