Shawnee Mission Charity Match

Written by Taylor Marksz, Shawnee Mission West High School Senior
Initially published in “P.O.V. Publish Our Voices,” a student-run magazine showcasing the perspectives of young writers.

The DECA programs at Shawnee Mission West and South have a tradition of raising money for charity when they play each other in a regular-season basketball game.

This year, Shawnee Mission South’s DECA students Jase McDonnell, Remy Witt, and Rowen Carson, and Shawnee Mission West’s DECA students Laila Coleman and Karena Richardson organized the game.

“The support was inspirational, the donations were generous, and the staff game was entertaining,” said Witt.

They raised money for the Special Olympics. To raise money they created shirts and sold raffle tickets. You were then entered into an item raffle for two dollars, which included baskets, beats headphones, Stanley cups, and a Yeti bundle. For one dollar, you were entered in a gift card raffle for businesses like Chick-fil-A or The Rub.

We raised almost $1,000 through t-shirt sales, donations, raffle ticket sales, and sponsors.

Rowen Carson, Shawnee Mission South High School DECA Student

The game included a student halftime contest in which kids who bought a shirt could participate. After the game, they announced the raffle ticket winners and had a teacher game. But it also came with challenges.

“The snow days made selling t-shirts and communicating with staff basketball game players much more difficult,” said McDonnell.

So, during their few days at school, they had to rely on promoting their shirts through social media and announcements.

“We had 4 snow days the week of the game including the day of the game so we had to sell 300 shirts the day before when we had school in at the entrance of the game,” said Coleman.

But that just gave them something to learn from for next time.

“I definitely would change how we did the raffle. I would make it more smooth. I also would do a presale like South did to minimize the risk of no sales because of things like snow days,” said Richardson.

The important thing was that they were raising money for a great cause and continuing a tradition.

The game succeeded in bringing the community together to support a common cause. While rivalry and competition remained present in the basketball games that night, everyone understood that we were all coming together to support something bigger than our schools.

Remy Witt, Shawnee Mission South High School DECA Student

These students learned from each other, and trial and error created many new connections. They also discovered and gained motivation and hard-working skills to put together and run this amazing game for another fantastic cause.