Spanish Honor Society sees more success in fundraisers than in past years

From Feb. 4 to Feb. 8, the Blair Spanish Honor Society (SHS) sold Valentine's Day candy grams, which will be delivered during first period on Thursday, outside of the Student Activity Center (SAC) during fifth and sixth period lunches. They had planned to sell them again this week, but last week's sales were unexpectedly high, and they ran out of the pre-ordered candy grams. Other groups that held Valentine's Day fundraisers this week include InToneNation, Horticulture Club, Silver Quill and Advocates for Biodiversity Conservation (ABC) Club.

This is the first time SHS is selling Valentine's Day candy grams, though they sold holiday candy grams in December. This year, they decided to sell Valentine's Day candy grams because of the high success of the holiday sales in which they sold 271 candy grams. This time, they sold all 300 of the one dollar candy grams in the first week of sales. "We could have sold more, but we had to pre-order them," SHS sponsor Dora Gonzalez said.

According to junior Andrea Bravo, the Valentine's Day candy grams include a large lollipop. Buyers have the option of including a message to the recipient of the candy gram in the card.

One of the Spanish Honors Society's goals is to give back to the community, according to senior Hector Barrera. "We do a bunch of community based activities, especially in ways that are related to Spanish speakers. We want to help our community and to give back," Barrera said. All proceeds from each of SHS's fundraisers will go to CASA de Maryland, a resource center in Wheaton, Md., devoted to empowering recent immigrants.

CASA de Maryland states that its "primary mission is to work with the community to improve the quality of life and fight for equal treatment and full access to resources and opportunities for low-income Latinos and their families." Bravo says SHS's donations will go specifically towards lowering the price of English classes at Casa de Maryland.

According to Barrera, SHS chose to donate to CASA de Maryland because it not only helps immigrants' transition to the United States, but also gives them the tools to live in a new country. "[CASA de Maryland] has classes and volunteer opportunities. It also helps give them resources to be self-sufficient," Barrera said.

Gonzalez echoed Barrera's statement. "One of our pledges is to continue promoting the culture and the language. CASA [de Maryland] has a very strong link with the Spanish community in Silver Spring," she said.

According to various members, the SHS has also been significantly more active this school year than in years past. Senior member Sagarika Das attributes this to better organization and communication. "The society's existed [in years past], but it just never really did anything. It's really organized this year," she said.

In addition to the two candy gram fundraisers, SHS plans to host a Latin American night in downtown Silver Spring in April in order to highlight Latin American culture. "We're trying to promote diversity and help people become more aware of Latin American culture," Gonzalez said. "Hispanics are the largest minority group at Blair, and we want to help Hispanic people become an integral part of society."