From January 27 to January 31, students participated in Dollar Wars, a friendly competition between the Monarchs & Vipers and the Sharks & Jaguars to raise money for the Los Angeles Fire Relief.
The event was formerly founded as “Penny Wars” in the mid-2010s, but has recently been updated as the usage of pennies has been steadily decreasing in the United States over the past couple of years. It is part of the Sisterhood Trifecta along with Aquacades and Powderpuff, which is a series of on-campus traditions dedicated to embracing school spirit and creating memories with one’s class and sister class.
Throughout the week, students could place money into one of two clear containers labeled “Monarchs & Vipers” and “Sharks & Jaguars” and track how far ahead or behind they were compared to the opposing classes. Each dollar added one point to the team’s total score while the value of bills above one dollar, including five, ten and twenty-dollar bills, would be subtracted from each team’s total points.
This year’s proceeds were donated to victims of the Los Angeles wildfires, which have caused many residents to evacuate their homes and find temporary refuge elsewhere. The damage in Southern California has also affected the families of NDB students, including senior Allison Lui, whose grandmother was warned to evacuate when fires were in close radius of her home.
“My mom grew up in Southern California, so my grandma still lives down there and … has lived down there for a really long time now,” said Lui. “We were finding out about the fires as they were spreading and … were checking in day to day. We realized that she wouldn’t be able to drive to where she was being evacuated to so … she lived with us for a couple of weeks … because it [wasn’t] safe for her [at home.]”
As part of NDB’s mission for students to give back, Dollar Wars served as an opportunity to aid communities in need.
“Hopefully students get involved and participate in … this is part of the philanthropy work we try to get students to do here and it’s for a great cause,” highlighted Director of Student Life and Leadership Alisia Bergholm, who contributed toward planning the event for the last couple of years.
Juniors and Service Club Co-Founders Tali Cuneo and Maddie Fowler originally came up with the idea to raise funds for the fire relief and collaborated with Bergholm to promote engagement. They sent out a school-wide email explaining the point system, detailing how to earn spirit points.
“Maddie and I came up with the idea to donate because it is so devastating to see all that is happening and having so many people affected,” shared Cuneo. “I have heard also of many friends and families of the Tiger community that [have] been impacted so we wanted to do the most we can to help out and do our part in the community when another is suffering.”
Though the Dollar Wars is typically aimed at strengthening NDB’s sisterhood and creating an amiable contest between sister classes, this year’s purpose put a emphasis on the importance of philanthropy and helping victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
3) I am one of the founders of the service club and right now I primarily am the leader of outreach which means I help send emails to various organizations. But the whole service club helps out each other constantly.
