NOTRE DAME LAUNCHES ACTIVITY WEEK; ANNUAL EVENT RAISES FUNDS FOR THE SCHOOL

Activity Week, Notre Dame High School's biggest fund raiser each year, was kicked off with an all-school rally Friday.

The week, which runs through Saturday, sees faculty, students and parents work together to raise funds to meet the annual school budget, said Notre Dame's principal, Sister Mary Ann Fischer.

The senior, junior, sophomore and freshman classes compete to raise the most money. The class raising the most money will see their king and queen candidates crowned at the Activity Week Dance Saturday.

The King and Queen candidates are seniors Rick Fehr and Evie Beussink, juniors Travis Helwege and Amy Warren, sophomores Burton Doss and Missy Smith and freshmen Brian Popp and Megan Zimmer. All of the candidates are from Cape Girardeau, except Buessink, who is from Jackson, and Doss, who is from Cairo.

Fischer said this year the school's goal is to raise $17,000. "Our goal last year was $16,000, and we raised $18,000," she said.

"We get no funding from the state," Fischer said. "We rely on tuition and fund raising efforts."

Fischer said the students sell candy, Florida fruit, magazine subscriptions, and each class will serve a dinner to the public.

The senior class will serve chicken and dumplings tonight, the sophomores will serve fried chicken Tuesday and the freshmen will serve chili Wednesday. The junior class served barbecue pork on Friday night.

All dinners are from 5-7 p.m. at the high school. The cost is $4 for adults, $2 for children 6 to 11, and children 5 and under eat free.

"The classes picked the dinners," said Fischer, "with seniors picking first." Fischer said that teachers, students and parents work together on the dinners.

"In addition to raising money, the students do service projects like washing windows, washing cars, cutting grass and having bake sales," Fischer said.

Fischer said that class competitiveness is high.

"Each class tries to keep the activities quiet so the other classes don't know what is going on," she said.

The student that makes the most money for a class will win a limousine ride for six students to the dance Saturday night and dinner for two.

The limousine will be driven by Chris Janet, Notre Dame's physical education teacher. "I have a chauffeur's license and we thought the kids would get a kick out of me driving the limo," Janet said.

Each class seems determined to raise the most money.

Senior Jason Vanderpool said, "I want the senior class to win because we've never won before."

Brian Lingle, a senior, said the his class has not done too well in the past. "I want to win because we are seniors and we're supposed to win."

Senior Stephanie Bell said she wants seniors to win to show that her class has leadership.

The king candidate of the junior class, Travis Helwege, said he wants his class to win to show that the juniors are the better class.

"I'm a competitive person," said Greg Rubel, a junior. "I want to succeed and see our king and queen crowned."

Amy Berkbuegler is also a junior. "It's a good feeling to win," Berkbuegler said. "I want to show pride in our school."

Freshman Heather Meyer said she hopes that her class wins. "We better win," she said. "The freshmen are thought of being the lowest of the low and if we win it will bring us up some."

David Bruenderman is a sophomore. He said, "We have got a good chance of winning because we came close to winning last year but took second."

Fischer said the rivalry between the faculty in the class home rooms is just as great as it is between the students.