The Class of 2021 Student Council hosted a Mario Kart Tournament on November 29 to raise money for their class funds, collecting a total of $180.

There were 24 registered teams of two who participated in the tournament. Sophomores Hollis Tharpe and Sammy Erickson won the tournament after sophomores Abbey Parent and Ellie Erickson could not stay the duration of the competition. Having filled in for the two, Tharpe and Erickson won two $50 gift cards to Naples Pizza.

Tharpe was originally eliminated from the competition in an earlier round and looked at the second chance as a means to redeem himself.

“I was very thankful that I was given another chance to show my abilities. I was disappointed with my performance in the first round, and I was glad that I was able to take advantage of this new opportunity that I had been blessed with,” Tharpe said.

The Mario Kart Tournament was run in single elimination bracket form. Teams were randomly chosen to face one another, where they competed in a cup of four races. The partners with the highest aggregate total points after the four races advanced to the next round. However, the semi-final rounds were only two races, and the final was one. According to Tharpe, the final and semi-final rounds were some of the “most stressful moments of [his] life,” due to the prize at stake.

Class of 2021 advisor Patrick Mulcahy helped organize the event along with the council members and was excited about the idea from the start.

“We have run through many fundraiser ideas over the past year and a half, but we decided on the video game tournament based on the success of similar fundraisers in the past. Though a bit timely to complete, the tournament was highly successful,” Mulcahy said.

Class of 2021 Secretary sophomore Jacob Smith created the fundraiser idea.

“Personally, I loved Mario Kart as a kid and since it was a big part of our childhoods, I figured that other people would enjoy it as well,” Smith said.

According to Smith, the council is looking for creative fundraiser ideas to engage the student body. The council hopes to replicate this turnout and level of interest in a future video game fundraiser in the spring.