Wrap Wednesdays

Everyday at AUC, there is always something selling in the Rotunda, whether it is ear plugs by the Diversity Council, Chips and Drinks by BGLAM, Shwarmas by SNMA, fruit smoothies by CMDA, or Sunday bake sales by the AUC Spouses Organization. Three weeks ago, my class, the second semester, adopted Wrap Wednesdays as our fund-raising plan, used by the current fifth semester class for many semesters. So from now on, every Wednesday at 4pm, you’ll see our faces in the Rotunda, selling wraps from Pineapple Pete’s and other tasty food items.

The reasons for fund-raising are many. Many student organizations donate half of their profits to a charitable foundation here in the St. Maarten community. For classes, the biggest purpose of fund-raising is to raise money for the Fifth Semester Party, a long-time tradition here at AUC. The Fifth Semester Party is a formal evening event usually held at one of the several nice hotels on the island, like the Westin or Anse Marcel. One cannot miss one’s fifth semester party, and since the event is going to be very nice, the more money we raise, the cheaper the tickets will cost for everyone. That is why every class raises money through fund-raising, food being the most common and practical, adding to the diversity of food choices and student life on campus at the same time.

Three weeks ago during block week, my two co-class reps and I organized the sale for the first time. We weren’t sure how many to buy, so we stayed on the safe side and bought 50 wraps from Pineapple Pete’s for $5 each to sell for $6. We bought a little bit of each flavor: Chicken Caesar, Buffalo Chicken, Chicken Satay, and Chicken Ranch, as well as a few veggies just in case. We weren’t sure which drinks would sell the best either so we bought Coke zero, water, and fruit juices from Cost-U-Less and to sell for a dollar each. In addition, one of our classmates was nice enough to bake home-made cookies from SCRATCH, which I thought was quite impressive. We decided to sell those for a dollar each. Once we got all the cookies laid out, the wraps organized into pans, and the drinks dunked into the ice coolers, it was experimentation time!

Little did we know that 50 wraps was definitely not enough. Within less than 15 minutes, all 50 wraps sold out, including the veggie ones. Afterwards, people continued showing up saying “what?! no wraps?!” We could have easily sold much more. Just from the wraps alone, we made 50 dollars in profit. In addition, we sold around 40 or so cookies, adding another $30 or so in profit. Out of all the drinks, we found out that Coke Zero sold the best, many times more than the other drinks. I guess the lack of Coke Zero in the vending machines plus the fact that medical school students and faculty are probably more health conscious boosted the sales. The sale was great that week because it was block week, when everyone was busy studying for the exams that they’d rather buy the dinner we provided than sacrifice precious studying time to cook.

This past Wednesday, we sold wraps again. This time, we bought 60 wraps. We ended up not selling 3 of them, perhaps because it was not a pre-block week. Again, the baked goods sold very well and Coke Zero again reigned king among drinks. As we sold 57 wraps, we made $57. But because we did not sell 3 of them, we lost $15, making our total profit to be $42. Again, the same talented baker student in our class baked brownies, and at $0.50 each, we sold them all. We found out a good part of our money came from the “accessories” like drinks and baked goods, and it was a good idea that we continue them.

So all in all, we decided that 50 wraps is a good number to sell during non-pre-block weeks and perhaps 70 wraps is good for pre-block weeks. If we assume we stick to this schedule, and make an addition of $20 for drinks and baked goods each time (estimating on the safe side), we could make:

Block 1: $70+$70+$90 = $230
Block 2: $70+$70+$90 = $230
Block 3: $70+$70+$70+$90 = $300
Block 4: $70+$70+$70+$90 = $300
Finals Week: $90
Total: at least $1150 per semester

If we make:
Semester 2: $390
Semester 3: $1150
Semester 4: $1150
Semester 5: $460
Total: We could make $3150 before our Fifth-Semester Party.

If we assume that 150 students will come to the party, then that will be $21 saved for each member in our class. In other words, our tickets will be $21 cheaper for everyone compared to what it would be if we hadn’t done any fund-raising. Doesn’t sound bad to me at all!

However, who knows if we would actually make this goal. Perhaps we would fall short, or perhaps we would exceed it! But for now, I’m looking forward to helping our class out. It will be a lot of work and I hope people in my class can see that it is not just the class reps’ efforts. It’s our entire class’ effort.