Piñata Contest by Sasha

Piñata Contest by Sasha - August 2021 Scholarship Essay

When our Spanish club learned that the dietary staff at Integris Hospital lost a co-worker to Covid, we immedietly wanted to help. So, how do a handful of high schoolers help a hospital staff? We began to ask ourselves this. As president of the Spanish club, I remember racking my brain for ideas of raising money. Eventually, we figured that a fundraiser was the best option, but what would we make to sell? We would have to create something that would sell well, and it would have to be something we would enjoy making. After some discussion, I finally landed on an idea: piñatas. We would raise money by having a silent auction on piñatas at school.
After I had concluded on piñatas, I asked the rest of our Spanish club if they liked the idea. I hoped they would since personally I love art and wanted to create my own piñata. When the club heard of the idea, they got excited and agreed to it. To make the fundraiser more fun, we decided to have a contest. Winner would be the one who made the most money. We were told that we would be split into teams of two, and I knew exactly who I wanted to be paired with. Mia was a girl who, like me, likes art. I figured that we could combine our artistic talents to make the winning piñata.
Now we had to know what kind of piñata we would make. My mom gave us advice that we should have a piñata that appeals to the little kids. This was because we were counting on them to beg their moms to buy the piñatas. Mia suggested we make an egg and I jokingly suggested we do R2-D2. I wanted our piñata to be something that mostly everyone would like at school. So, I went on to fervently think about a good piñata. I'll admit, I became frustrated that I couldn’t seem to generate a good idea. I went and ranted to my mom a bit about this, so, we began scrolling through her phone for piñata ideas. Nothing came to me for a while, and I was about to take a break until a certain picture caught my eye. We stopped scrolling and clicked on the picture. I smiled as I knew that I had finally found the perfect piñata.
I sent the picture to Mia through text to see if she would like it. She thought it was a good idea, and we were finally set on what our piñata would be. We would create one of the most popular characters know to my generation. It would be something that nearly everybody at school would know. After all, the character was one of the most well recognized mobs from Minecraft which is one of the most popular games ever created. We were going to make the Minecraft Creeper, and we were going to win this.
Our club had decided that the best place to make the piñatas was at my church since there would be enough room for all of us. We picked our tables, grabbed our supplies, and began our work. Luckily for Mia and me, our piñata would be one of the easiest to make. The design of the Creeper is simple, and we literally just had to glue boxes together. After we had finished creating the shape, we began to cut and stick green tissue paper to give it its iconic green color. I'm sure we killed seven glue sticks alone doing that. Thanks to the simplistic design, ours was one of the first to be finished.
The day came where we would bid our piñatas and I was excited to show off our work. We placed the piñatas in the hallway at school so everyone could view them and bid on them. We were hoping that people would start bidding on them soon so we could raise enough money for the hospital. The day went on normally and there were times when I saw a crowd formed around the piñatas. I was glad that we would be helping the Hospital Staff.
The school day was nearing its end and we would eventually meet up for Spanish club. As I was walking to my class my mom came up to me and asked if I knew how much my piñata bid. I replied no and she looked at me with surprise. "Sasha," she started, "your piñata bid over $100!"
"What?"
To say I was shocked is an understatement. Mia and I had won the contest and had raised up the most money for the Dietary ward! With the money combined from the other piñatas, we had raised $387! That was enough money to buy snacks, food, and cards for the Dietary Ward! I helped my mom organize the gift baskets and we, along with other Spanish Club members, brought it to Integris Hospital. It was heartwarming to see the smiles on the hospital staff’s faces. I’m glad we were able to encourage them and give them something to enjoy. Our club loved this so much that we will be doing a piñata contest again next year. Turns out a handful of high schoolers can do great things after all.