They say all good things must end, and this year that may include the tradition of students bringing pocket change to postpone their math test. That’s right—the beloved charity week event of “coin stalling” could potentially come to an end this year, but that’s a decision for later. For now, student council is occupied with planning the rest of charity week.
Held every March, Farmington High School’s charity week is a fundraising event packed with fun activities like casino night and movie day in order to support a cause. Like several other school events, it requires countless hours of planning, which falls under the student council’s workload. 
Senior class president Miley Myers has been involved in student leadership for all four years of high school and is now in her second term as president. She says the work often goes unnoticed by the student body.
“People will say, ‘Spirit weeks are horrible’ or ask ‘What does student council even do?’ but they don’t realize that even simple stuff, like the posters on the walls, is something a student council member spent two hours working on,” Myers said. “When the halls are decorated, when the decorations come down, putting together homecoming, advertising for clubs–I feel like it goes kind of unseen.”
Student council advisor Lynn Burger agrees.
“Blizzard sales, Falcon Friday, spirit days, the stuff before winter break, it’s all them,” Burger said. “I always tell kids that if something fun is happening at school, it generally has gone through student council.”
After 15 years of teaching and 12 years of advising student council, Burger is retiring this year. She originally joined the student council with the mission to to strengthen community bonds at FHS.
“I just think that student council has an important role in building community within a school, and I didn’t feel like we had a whole lot of that,” Burger said. “Farmington didn’t have a lot of fun stuff going on besides homecoming and charity week, and I wanted to see more.”
Under Burger’s leadership, charity week has grown from raising under $1,000 to now regularly bringing in over $10,000. For her final charity week, she requested that the council focus on helping veterans in Michigan—a passion of hers.
Planning charity week takes months of coordination. Each class takes ownership of a specific event: freshman run movie day, sophomores organize casino night, juniors manage Exile Island, and seniors facilitate coin stalling. The planning process starts in December when each class researches potential charities and presents to the council for a vote.
Sophomore secretary Natalie Welday has been a member of student council for two years. Welday revealed the fundraising extends beyond the school walls.
“We send out letters to businesses downtown asking for donations, and you can even ask certain businesses to give a gift card to your basket for the raffle,” Welday said.
Student council reaches out to clubs, academic departments and even local businesses to build baskets for the charity week raffle. Students are encouraged to buy tickets to win the goods inside the baskets. Teachers from all departments are welcome to come together to create themed baskets. It’s a community effort that requires outreach.
Myers, who has served on the pep rally committee for all four years, says the planning timeline for some events stretches far beyond what most students realize.
“It can be anywhere from one to two years of planning for some events,” Myers said.
Student council has to secure auditorium contracts, bouncy house licenses, and vendor agreements; work that often begins long before students even know which charity they’re supporting. Pep rallies alone are strenuous.
“During pep rallies, we only get an hour and 15 minutes, and we have to fill in games and keep the kids entertained,” Myers said. “We have to facilitate the movement and work around the (main speakers) to make sure that there’s no silence. That’s the last thing we want. We want to keep the people engaged.”
The challenge isn’t just the workload—it’s the time constraints.
“Student council only meets for 30 minutes once a week, and most of the kids who are in student council have heavy academic loads, so doing things after school becomes difficult,” Burger said, when asked about the biggest struggle.
That’s where the coin stall problem enters. During charity week, student council members spend roughly three days counting and rolling each penny, nickel, dime, and quarter collected—sometimes totalling $3,000 to $4,000 in change.
“Your hands get all grimy and dirty, and it smells,” Burger said. “You have to count, and count the right amount. You can’t put Canadian coins in there. It’s a pain.”
This year, the student council is considering switching from coins to dollar bills, maintaining the stalling concept while eliminating the counting process. However, the council does worry that a dollar based system may not have the same appeal as the jingle of pocket change. Despite the stress and long hours, Welday says the payoff makes it worthwhile.
“I liked the pep rally,” Welday said. It was really stressful, but once it was over, it just felt really fun.”
For Burger, watching the students have fun while raising money for a good cause makes the work worthwhile.
“My favorite part is watching it all come together, watching the money add up,” said Burger. “The total is my little secret until the pep rally. I love when the kids get to present the actual check to the charity. I think it’s impactful for them to meet face to face to see that their work pays off.”
Myers echoes that sentiment, despite the frustration of feeling unseen.
“I’ve always felt like I was a natural born leader, but I just never had anywhere I could do that,” Myers said. “And then I joined student council, and now I do. I don’t know where I’d be without it.”
Charity week begins March 23rd, and as Burger prepares for her final reveal of the fundraising total, one thing is certain: whether coins or dollars, the tradition of Farmington students coming together to support a good cause will continue.
