English Outreach President Sebastian Harvey and Math Outreach President Noah Curtis Lee grew out their mustaches this summer to shave them off for a Sept. 8 fundraiser, dubbed the Mustache Funeral, benefitting both outreach organizations.
Lee said he originally wanted to grow out a mustache before junior year but thought it wasn’t a good decision.
“I was probably going to make a fool out of myself,” Lee said. “Then, [this past] summer, the idea came back. I decided, ‘You know what? People already know who I am. I am not trying to impress anyone anymore. I’m just going to grow out my mustache and see how things go.’”
After Lee got Harvey on board, Lee said they realized creating a funeral for their mustaches once school began could become a fundraiser for Math and English Outreach.
In the week of Sept. 5-8, members of both outreach clubs volunteered to collect donations at a fundraising table in Hooper Lobby. For every $2 they donated, students, faculty and staff were entered into a raffle for prizes, including gift baskets and the opportunity to draw on Harvey and Lee’s heads on the day of the funeral.
Many students were surprised when senior Max Chamberlin donated $400 to the fundraiser.
“At first, I was just curious as to how close [the fundraiser was to $1,000]. [The volunteers] said, ‘Oh, just about $400 [away].’ I said, ‘Why not?’ I’d rather [the money] go to a charity than whatever useless stuff I’m going to spend it on,” Chamberlin said.
In total, the fundraiser raised $1,100, twice as much as the initial goal.
Lee said Math Outreach members are still working on a plan for their portion of the money. English Outreach members plan to use the money to fund initiatives including Read Across America Day to increase literacy among children.
“Read Across America is one of the programs we are doing in coordination with the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library,” senior Peter Bomhold said. “I’d like to host an event at one of the local parks in March with booths and games for local kids to come and get excited about reading.”
Although students did most of the work organizing and raising money for the fundraiser, they still needed teachers to support the idea. English teacher and English Outreach co-sponsor Theo Hummer agreed to be one of the fundraiser’s sponsors.
“What is really great about English Outreach is it is entirely student-generated and all of the practical stuff regarding the club is entirely student-run,” Hummer said.
Overall, Lee and Harvey said they are satisfied with the fundraiser and its results.
“I think it’s really great MSMS is a place where the community will band together to do stupid things that have an impact, like shaving our mustaches for outreach and helping other people,” Lee said.
Harvey said he’s appreciative of the administration for approving the event to happen and the entire school for putting its full effort into funding the event.
“I don’t think it could have gone better,” Harvey said. “I hope people keep on talking about it. It was hilarious and iconic and will be in MSMS lore and legends for years to come.”
