FACULTY & FELLOW STUDENTS:

 

I'm Jack Hexum and I'm running for the office of Class President.

 

I've heard a lot of people complaining about the dull social life we've got here in Tenafly.  We don't have many dances, concerts or things to do.  School isn't much fun.  Well, to a certain degree it's true and it's our own fault.  Nobody's going to make our senior year fun for us.  We've got to get out there and really push for the activities we want.  The senior year is still a lot of work but it can be fun too if we want it to be.

 

The senior year is our last chance to make an imprint on the school.  We have some advantages in that this year's class has done very well and have made it easier to have special events.  We're the first full graduating class from the new high school and most impressive of all, we're graduating on our country's 200th anniversary.

 

The first thing we have to do is raise enough money to support our activities.  We've got two major expenses: First, $2000 or more, if we can afford it, goes to the Tenakin.  Second, $2000 to $3000 is needed to pay for our senior prom or party.  Luckily, we don't have to pay for caps and gowns.  So not counting a lot of miscellaneous expenses, we need $4000 to $5000.  We started this year with $1,500.  We had 3 or 4 bake sales and made near $100.  Our car wash made $30.  We're not sure how much we made on the candy sale but it wasn't very substantial.  So, right now we have a little over $1,600 in our treasury.  That means we have to raise from $2,400 to $3,400 for just our major expenses.  It's not really as difficult as it seems.

 

Our most profitable fund raising activity will probably be the magazine sale.  This year's class made an exceptional effort with the magazine sale and made over $6,800.  I'm sure we can do as well if we want to.  If we have the sale in the Fall we get most of our money worries out of the way.  Then we can have some fun fund raising activities like a HOAGIE DAY.  In case you're wondering what a HOAGIE DAY is, it's a slightly unusual fund raising activity, as you many have guessed, but it's very profitable and a lot of fun.  A school in Glen Rock, N. J. recently had one and made $2,600.  What you do is everyone takes orders for HOAGIE sandwiches about a month in advance, and on the morning of the HOAGIE DAY, all 304 of us pile into the cafeteria and set up a gigantic HOAGIE assembly line.  A few kids cutting the bologna, some other kids throwing on the lettuce and tomatoes, others throwing on the cheese, and before you know it, we'll have a few thousand HOAGIES ready for delivery.  The school in Glen Rock made 4,700 HOAGIES in 3 hours.  So, in one day, we can make close to $3,000 and almost more importantly, have a lot of fun.

 

Another innovative fund raising activity is the MOVING car wash.  Now that doesn't mean that the cars are moving when we wash them.  That could be rather difficult.  What moves is us.  The reason is in the past we've had difficulty persuading customers to come down to wherever we're washing cars, so instead we go to them and wash their cars right in their own driveways.  Of course, we can have the normal fund raising activities like bake sales, candy drives, and of course the very profitable REX sales.  The number of activities we can have largely depends on the amount of money we can raise.

 

I'd like to have 3 or 4 dances during the year.  A Senior Hop in the Fall similar to the 50's dance, then a Bicentennial celebration dance in the winter, and a Square Dance in the Spring.  I've spoken to Greg Goodman, Scott Gartner and other members of their group and they assured me they'd be willing to supply the music for the dances.  I'm sure you all remember their excellent band from 7th grade.

 

I think it would do a lot for our spirit and unity as a class to have a few pep rallies for Football and Basketball.

 

Sometime during the year, depending on interest, I'd like to have a concert.

 

Since many of us are getting ready for college, I'd like to organize some trips to colleges near us like Rutgers, Princeton, Columbia, NYU and others.

 

Other activities we could have include: Senior seminars, volleyball nights, talent show, government day, jip day and the list goes on and on.

 

Speaking of the class gift.  In the past most of the class gifts haven't been too exciting, plus they were a drain on the class funds.  And for the most part, they really haven't reminded everyone too much of the class that gave them.  So, for our class gift, or at least part of it, I'd like to make a movie of the Class of '76 using the video tape machine.  I've talked to Mrs. Lalor and she said that we could make a 1-2 hour film free of charge.  And Video tape experts Louis Betti and Bob Hersh have agreed to help out with the film.  All of you will be the STARS.  The first hour and a half of the movie will probably be the credits. 

 

If we're going to be successful, we've all got to support our Class activities.  I think the best way to find out what activities the majority of the Class are willing to support is with an Interest Survey.  I'd like the survey to be taken before the end of our Junior Year so that we can start planning for a unified, fun and memorable year for the CLASS OF '76.