As the day of love comes back around, the Class of 2026 seizes the opportunity to host their 3rd holiday-themed fundraiser for all students and staff of Malden High.
Typically for Valentine’s Day, sweet treats, flowers, and store-bought items are the main gifts that are given. To change things up, the Class of 2026 came with a new approach to celebrating this day around the school.
On February 8th, handmade pipe cleaners that were made into flowers were available for pre-orders that would later be distributed on the 13th. A singular flower was $6 and a bouquet was $12.
With the versatility of the pipe cleaners and the creativity of the Class of 2026 council, they were able to provide students and staff with a more sentimental rather than traditional Valentine’s Day gift.
“They’re cute to give to your friends, yourself, and they can be kept to be cherished for as long as you’d like,” said Treasurer Oscar Luc, who further explained how gifting your loved ones something that was carefully made and can be kept as a keepsake is “honestly more heart-felt than something store-bought.”
President Eldana Abrhame described this fundraiser as “a unique event for [students] to participate in that we came up with for the Valentine season that was thought of out of the box. The main goal was not only to profit but also to bring together the students of our class to support one another and to use this event as a simple but powerful gesture for one another.”
The crafted flowers were made from an array of colors and sculpted into many different shapes and sizes, offering those who were interested in purchasing many different options. “They’re very heartfelt and look like they took lots of time to make… they’re perfect for this loving season,” said sophomore Ahmed Moukara, who did not purchase any flowers but soon regretted it after seeing how they positively impacted those who did purchase them.
Students who purchased the pipe cleaner flowers after they were distributed. Photos submitted by Gabriela Parini Cordova
Although the idea of making all pipe cleaner flowers by hand turned out to be great and successful, the council was met with quite some challenges during the brainstorming and execution process. With the council being fairly new and inexperienced with last-minute organizing of a fundraiser, having confidence in their fundraiser was something they struggled to gain at first.
“We’ve had some doubts about the project…but I definitely think that even if nothing comes out of this fundraiser it’ll be a good experience for us and the council to learn a lot from this… we still have a lot to learn and to take away from our experiences,” said Luc, who has lots of hope for their future moving forward.
Since pre-orders were due on February 8th by the end of the day and were to be distributed by the 13th, this left the council only 5 days to make all the flower bouquets for all those who ordered. To many, this would bring an abundance of stress due to the complex task with a short time frame, but to the Class of 2026 council members, this was another opportunity to build their already strong communication and teamwork skills.
“Communication has been something that we have built even before the elections. I am eternally grateful for the councils’ communication skills whether through in-person meetups or talking through group chats, we have built a relationship with one another beyond school grounds, and that really helped us with making this process so much smoother,” stated Abrhame.
Overall, regardless of time constraints and self-doubt that the council battled with, they still were able to come back strong and deliver yet again another impactful and successful fundraiser event
Abrhame continuously shared her gratitude for her fellow council members, as well as those who purchased the pipe cleaner flowers as they turned out to be a success and seemed to have fulfilled the purpose that they were meant to impact the student body. “We believe that the love for one another in the [Malden High] building is eternal, hence our eternal flowers. These pipe cleaner flowers never die whether watered or not; they continue to live on, similar to our goal at [Malden High], which is to leave a message that lives on forever even after all our graduations.”
