Forensics finds success fundraising for nationals trips to Washington D.C., Fort Lauderdale

Forensics+finds+success+fundraising+for+nationals+trips+to+Washington+D.C.%2C+Fort+Lauderdale

Scout Molder, Editor-in-Chief

Fourteen members of the forensics team qualified for the National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) national tournament in Washington D.C. this May. In the past, the team has never had more than nine students qualify for nationals, so the financial burden put on the team to send all 14 people to D.C. was much larger than expected.

Additionally, forensics coach Tori Deneault anticipates that more students will qualify for the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The qualifier for this tournament will take place April 14 and 15.

Deneault estimated that in order to cover the cost of both trips, the team will need to raise $10,000. In order to accumulate this money, the team set up a plethora of fundraising events including benefit nights at local restaurants, donut sales during late start, and a Yankee Candle fundraiser. While some of these opportunities have already passed, the remaining events and dates are as follows:

  • April 13: Donut sales during late start
  • April 18: Fuddruckers benefit night
  • April 20: Donut sales during late start
  • April 25: Zaxby’s benefit night
  • May 2: Pizza Studio benefit night
  • May 4: Donut sales during late start
  • May 9: Forensics showcase

In addition to fundraising events, senior Kara Evans’s mom, Nancy Evans, set up a GoFundMe for the team. The team was unable to directly create the page because current district policy does not allow teams to raise money through online donation sites like GoFundMe. However, because Nancy is not a member or sponsor of the team, the page was allowed to remain open.

The GoFundMe has generated almost $2,000. The largest donation to the page thus far was a $1,500 donation by a user under the name of Tyler Crandell.

According to Deneault, seeing such a large donation come from an unknown name generated some curiosity amongst team members. This curiosity led one student to back search the email used by Crandell for the donation.

“The email for Tyler Crandell took us to Eric Stonestreet’s page,” Deneault said.

Eric Stonestreet, who is best known for his role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC show Modern Family, is a Piper graduate. Stonestreet’s relation to Piper, along with the email search results led many team members to draw the conclusion that Stonestreet was the donor.

“I think that with all of the research we did, there’s a pretty good chance it was Stonestreet who made the donation,” senior forensics team member Jessica Hutchings said. “I don’t know who would make up a fake email to pretend to be him.”

However, Deneault said she has chosen not to contact Stonestreet in regards to the donation or make any assumptions without his direct confirmation.

“Clearly if Mr. Stonestreet wanted us to know it was him, he would have put his name on it,” she said.

Regardless of the true identity of the donor, senior team member Michael Gentry said the donation means a lot to the team.

“We’re really happy to get such a large donation, and we’re excited because it’s going to make a big difference,” he said.

Deneault emphasized that the team appreciates any donations, regardless of the amount.

“We’re making a thank you video for all donors because we don’t want to be so stuck up as to say, ‘You didn’t give us enough money to get a big thank you,’” she said. “That just sounds awkward, so we’re going to make a big thank you that we send out to all of our donors.”
Junior team member and national qualifier Dylan Hendrix agreed that every little bit counts.

“I think it’s super cool that people are going out of their way to help a bunch of high school kids go to a national tournament for forensics,” he said.

To make a contribution to the team’s efforts, consider attending any of the remaining fundraising events, donating directly to the team through checks payable to Piper High School, or donating through the GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/piper-forensics-nationals-trip. Contact Deneault or a forensics team member for details and questions.