As the Class of 2010 slowly approaches graduation, plans for Senior Week are already underway. Though past classes have struggled to raise enough money to accommodate the traditional Senior Week activities, President of the Senior Class Council, Matt Yantakosol '10, is confident that his class has saved the most money yet.
"The class of 2009 spent over $50,000," said Yantakosol. "If I remember correctly they had about $20,000 saved at this point in the year— and we're at $35,000."
Despite this large difference in savings, the class council will still have to charge seniors some money for Senior Week. Usually the amount comes out to around $60 per student, but Yantakosol anticipates the cost will be much lower this year.
"We don't know how much [it will be] at this point, but we are going to be fundraising," said Yantakosol. "We will definitely try to keep it as cost effective as possible and cut costs where necessary while still providing a good experience."
Each semester the class council is given $15 per student on campus, a fee which appears on each student's tuition bill. The class spends this money on events and class gifts during the year. By being creative with their spending, this year the senior class council was able to save most of this money.
"This year the major thing we spent money on was the Junior-Senior Ball," said Yantakosol. "In addition to that we have had three pub nights and none of them cost us any money. They are basically free for us because we coordinate with Brunswick [Taxi] and Safe Ride. They are great class bonding activities."
Junior year usually proves to be the hardest year for class councils in terms of saving money. With half the class abroad, they only receive half the money from tuition bills. The senior class council, however, was careful to regulate spending over the past three years.
"We've never been in a position where we've been worried financially. I think last year our funding was quite a bit lower because we had three hundred [students] abroad. Each time those [students] were away we didn't get that $15 into our account," said Yantakosol. "Junior year you're working with a much more limited budget."
Yantakosol credits a consistent group of class council members as the reason behind the successful management of the class budget.
"One thing that's helped us is we've had a pretty consistent group of students on the council. This year we also added five appointed members to the council," said Yantakosol. "We have definitely been very cost effective. Out budget has always been a major concern and we pride ourselves on how we've managed it through the years."
With the news that the class of 2010 is well ahead of its predecessors in terms of financing Senior Week, Yantakosol and the council intend to schedule all the week's traditional events.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here," said Yantakosol. "We're going to keep the events that are successful. Those include a boat cruise in Portland, the Portland and Brunswick Pub Crawl—and we're hoping to get Racer X."
These events will be scheduled as soon as the first week of March. With white water rafting already booked, the council hopes to finalize their plans by the first week of April.
"April will just be honing the details. We've been having regular meetings with security, dining services and student activities and campus events," said Yantakosol.
The final cost of Senior Week will also include the senior class gift and senior class t-shirts.
"At this point we are brainstorming different ideas for the senior class gift and we will be polling the class [to select an idea] in the coming weeks," said Yantakosol. "How much we spend on the gift will depend on what [students] decide is the best way to leave our mark on Bowdoin."