Walking down the hall, you see an upperclassman harassing a group of students to buy a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and you think to yourself, “Oh, not another one — didn’t they just have a fundraiser yesterday?” Then you notice that it isn’t a senior, but rather a junior. How refreshing!

As the senior Poland-Israel trip approaches, the seniors have been cramming in as many fundraisers as possible, such as a Chinese auction and selling Krispy Kreme donuts, in hopes of raising enough money for the trip to happen.

With only 26 out of the minimum 28 seniors having committed to going and paying the full $4,395 to go on the trip, there is a small chance that it won’t even happen. More likely, not everyone will be able to go, because there won’t be enough money to subsidize those who can’t pay the full amount.

Now, to avoid being in this same situation next year, the junior class has started to raise money for its Poland-Israel trip a year sooner — meaning this year.  This is a great idea, and the seniors are wrong to complain, as long as the junior class isn’t selling the same item as the senior class at the same time.

The seniors are currently in a very dangerous situation, needing to raise so much money in such a short amount of time, and they have also added a lot of unnecessary stress to their lives.  The last thing someone applying to college and taking a load of AP’s needs is more stress.

In other words, we juniors are sympathetic to their situation.  I think that if the seniors just realized what we, the juniors, are actually doing, they wouldn’t be so hostile. By starting fundraising earlier, not only will it help guarantee our Poland-Israel trip will

happen and take away the stress of needing to raise a ton of money at the last minute, but it will make it easier for future seniors to start fundraising early as well. This will hopefully destroy the senior fundraising problem forever.

I do understand the seniors’ concern that the juniors’ fundraising will interfere with theirs. There is a simple solution to this problem: the junior class should not sell the same product or competing product at the same time as the senior class. For example, if the senior class is selling donuts than the junior class should not be allowed to sell food at the same time.

Someone from the junior class should always be in contact with someone in the senior class to avoid such conflict. That way, the freshman and sophomore classes will benefit as well, because they’ll have a wider variety of products to choose from.

It really is not that hard to avoid conflict and the benefits of the junior class starting fundraising now are enormous. In fact, all of Shalhevet will benefit.

So next time you are walking down the hall and you see an upperclassman fundraising like there is no tomorrow, don’t be annoyed. If you’re a senior, be glad your grade is busy raising money.

And if you’re not, recognize that your trip, whether it’s in 2012, 2013, or 2014, will be easier to plan and more likely to happen because of the foresight of this year’s juniors.