The West Essex sophomore class held their annual tricky tray fundraiser on Sunday March, 18 in the middle school gym. The amount of money raised exceed the intended goal. The tricky tray is a way for the sophomore class to raise money for future events such as prom, senior ball and senior trip.

At the tricky tray, the 250 prizes ranged from luxury jewelry and handbags to containers of cotton candy. One of the most popular prizes were tickets to the Rachael Ray show. This year, over 300 people participated in assisting the sophomore class to hold a successful tricky tray.

“The tricky tray was a big success and we were able to make enough money to provide our class with great events for the future” class vice president Liam Golden said.

Planning for the tricky tray began in late January. In order to receive basket donations, members from student council would walk in and out of stores in the area asking for donations. Many restaurants donated gift cards, while boutiques would donate a collection of their top selling merchandise.

“Planning for the tricky tray was very stressful and I had to coordinate with every store and restaurant in the area to pick up all of the items, but it was very fun” student council secretary Natalie Caine said.

On the day of the tricky tray, student council members and over 40 student and parent volunteers came to school early to set up the baskets. Baskets had to be set up in numerical order and they had to be color coded. Each basket was matched up with a color according to its value. For example, the red baskets had the highest value, while the pink had the lowest.

A person would purchase their tickets at the door, place them in the baskets of their choice, and wait for the drawing. Student volunteers would blindly choose the winning ticket and deliver the basket to its recipient.

“Things were kept relatively consistent with years past. We feel that our Tricky Tray is very well run so why fix it if it’s not broken” said History teacher Christopher Benacquista, who is class adviser for the Class of 2020.

After weeks of preparation, organizers said their efforts have paid off. The sophomore class looks forward to using the proceeds from the tricky tray to fund their future activities and events for the rest of high school.