Celeste Rivas is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Tolleson Union High School for AZPreps365.com

TOLLESON — Tolleson Union High School District covers the costs of its sports teams’ events sanctioned by the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

But when Tolleson High School’s spiritline competes outside of school events, the team must pay the fees on its own.

At the beginning of the year, the team plans 12 to 15 fundraisers to take place throughout the season. 

A few of these fundraisers consist of selling items like popcorn or apparel, partnering with local restaurants such as Chipotle and Panda Express, and hosting spiritline clinics for kids ages 3 to 13. 

Cheer coach Raeann Southern said that she views most of these as smaller fundraisers. 

“Those fundraisers are just a little extra help,” Southern said. “I don’t rely on them for anything big just because we never know what the turnout is going to be.”

Although they may not have the largest turnout, every fundraiser is essential for the team as their goal is to raise as much money as they can throughout the year.

“When it comes to competitions, they can become very expensive, and that funding money goes toward us,” junior Zaidee Sanchez said.

This year, their popcorn fundraiser was a huge hit. Collectively, they made about $5,000.

Each of the 73 spiritline members had the opportunity to sell popcorn through Varsity’s Poppin Popcorn fundraiser. 

Junior varsity cheerleader Madasun Davis, a junior, made $1,500 from the popcorn fundraiser, surpassing the needed funds for nationals.

“It’s good to know that I don’t need to think about fundraising as much anymore,” Davis said. “But I still try to participate in all fundraisers because you never know what’s going to come up.”

The money each athlete made went toward their bows and additional gear. If they did not sell enough popcorn, they had to cover those fees out of pocket.

Spiritline’s biggest money maker is the homecoming dance. They make about $20,000 to $30,000 from the dance each year.

“At most schools, it’s the student council that hosts homecoming, but here at Tolleson, student council gave it away to cheer because they make a lot of money doing other things,” Southern said. 

The team is responsible for scheduling a DJ and photobooth, donating decorations, making posters and transforming the outdoor campus into a dance floor.

“Everybody has to contribute,” Southern said. “This is my fifth year doing it, so we’ve got it down to a pretty good science now.”

That money gets deposited into spiritline’s account to cover about 20% of each athlete’s fees for nationals, which run about $1,000 per individual. After homecoming, each athlete receives around $200. 

In the case that someone still does not have enough money to cover the competition fees, Southern and the coaching staff will sponsor one athlete a year by taking some money from the team’s account and covering some payments for the chosen individual. 

“Nobody should not be able to participate because they can’t afford it,” Southern said. 

Senior Jose Ojeda was sponsored two years ago when his family was facing financial struggles.

“The fact that they actually cared enough to sponsor me warms my heart,” Ojeda said. “If I had done it without their help, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now.”