Middle School Students To Raise Money Through Magazine Sales

To raise money for their eighth-grade trips, the seventh and eighth grade students at the Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School will be participating in a magazine subscription sale from Monday through Oct. 5.

"The kickoff of the fundraiser will be next week for both grades," Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School Assistant Principal Megan Corliss said. "This is to defray the cost of the eighth-grade trips."

For eighth-graders, Corliss said, the money will be used to lower costs at the end of this school year, and, for the seventh-graders, the money will carry over to next year.

"We have been doing this for more than 10 years," she said. "This is our annual fundraiser."

According to Corliss, students are given booklets from Great American—the company sponsoring the fundraiser—with information about magazine subscriptions, which they can sell to anyone. A percentage of the costs from each subscription goes to the individual student who sold the magazine, and the money is used to defray the person's costs to attend the trip at the end of the year.

In addition, Corliss said, buyers can subscribe online through a link on the school's website, and a percentage from those sales is distributed among all the students.

"We find that we get a good percentage back from selling the magazines," she said. "We don't have to deliver the items, and the company sends out subscriptions."

"Sometimes the teachers subscribe online [rather than to individual students]," she added. "At the end of the fundraiser, we look at those students with financial needs and use that money from online sales to take money off the costs of their trips."

Sometimes, Corliss said, people just renew their subscriptions with the students.

"Most families have at least one subscription already," she said. "And the magazines are all discounted because it's a fundraiser."

Last year, Corliss said, one class earned $50,000 toward the end-of-the-year trip, which costs about $260 per student.

"That is a lot of money, so, with the fundraiser, more kids are able to go," she said. "We are lucky enough that we raise enough money to defray costs through this fundraiser."

Unfortunately, Corliss said, more and more families are suffering financially in these times, so it is appreciated when the fundraiser can help lower the costs and allow more students to attend the trip.

Aside from the money students receive to defray costs, Corliss said the kids also receive prizes for selling subscriptions.

"The kids like the different incentives and prizes," she said, adding that what they receive is based on how much they sell. "There are games they get to play, like a money machine, all sponsored by the company."

Basically, Corliss said, this fundraiser is a way to enable students to easily attend the eighth grade trip.

"We really don't want kids to not be able to go on the trip because of money," she said. "There are no other funds available if we don't do this."