Spirit Council: Secret Ninja Training Camp or Respectable Council?

By: Wren Lee (Grade 10)

Spoiler! It’s both!

Every one of us, at some point, has purchased a candy gram or entered in a draw for or from Spirit Council. However, the question is: where on earth does the money go? Could Spirit Council truly be the shadowy council that, deep down, we all know it to be? Where could these sweet, sweet funds possibly go? Journey on reader and follow my path of truth:

In mid February, I went to grill Ms. Boland about this burning question, she told me that, “That is a really great question. It is something that I would really like all of the students to be aware of…” This wasn’t pertinent to my investigation but it was flattering. 

“The Spirit Council is not a fundraising council, that is to say we don’t raise money to support organizations, or events. When and where we can, we always throw our support behind the other accounts that do raise funds like the Arts Council, or the Service Council. Any money that we generate through the sale of candy grams are used to first and foremost cover the cost of a candy-gram costs, and after that they are used for the seasonal decorations that you see around the school. [There are so many] because so much diversity is really about inclusivity and celebrating the uniqueness and the communities within our larger school committee we celebrate a number of events. So those are things like back to school, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Remembrance Day, Winter holidays such as Christmas and Hanukkah, the Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Spring, Saint Patrick’s Day, as well as our grads all ending their High School careers with the end of AP week. [We] try to do things to celebrate our teachers, and we are looking to expand to other communities within our larger School Community. That’s a lot of decorating.”

She noted that, “[The most expensive additions] are the metal hooks that you see the decorations hanging from. We ordered four hundred of those hooks and they cost us about $500, but what they have allowed us to do and the diversity that they have allowed us to demonstrate as well as they’re used for the Arts Council for their events has been completely worth the investment. And we feel better knowing that those hooks are to be reused over and over and over again for many years rather than previous tape or paper clips which were single use and thrown away.”

Later, when I asked Evan Daynard the same question, Charlie Anthony interjected by telling me that, “they keep it all in their pockets!”

Evan then replied “no” before continuing on: “It goes back to the fund to use that for things that we need to get throughout the year for activities and all the stuff we get.”

Could this be some extravagant cover up that goes all the way to the top? Is Ms. Boland the true mob boss of the school? These are the very questions I asked Zara Smith, an avid member of the Spirit Council.

She confessed to me that, in fact, “It’s actually a secret heist and we are currently plotting…to take over the school so the money is funding for our ninja training… We are the elite of the elite… And the late hours and early mornings and lunches that we put in “decorating” are actually training… And when you take extra lunches to [help] package candy grams, we are actually training a whole population of minions who cover all of our work so we can plan the next phase of our mission and practice flips… Also money goes back to funding for decorations and buying the candy and all that… Mostly just make up what we spent or have room to plan more events if we have the budget.” Boldly, she requested that I include her name in this article rather than report her as an anonymous source. Zara Smith is a true testament to the ninja honour and bravery. If candy gram sales is what it took to allow Spirit Council to gain ultra secret combatant training, I for one know it to be worth it. Plus, it’s an added bonus that the sales actually go towards decorating the school and funding other councils.