Leo Club’s fundraiser brings school together and raises money for its outreach efforts.

Leo Club promoted the fundraiser by creating a Facebook event to generate publicity for the event. Through its social media coverage, the event sold 110 Pearl Milk Tea. Photo by Elia Chen.

A line of students, stretched across the Academic Court, waited in front of an empty table. As soon as the janitor’s truck rolled past, the line dispersed, and students swarmed to the table from all sides. Leo Club officers quickly unloaded cardboard boxes from the truck as students pushed toward the table with money flying into the air.

On April 11, Leo Club held a Tpumps fundraiser after school at MVHS to bring the school community together and raise money for outreach efforts, which include supporting the National Children’s Cancer Society, One Sight and Special Olympics. The club sold each cup for $3.50, and students could choose from four flavors: Peach Lychee Milk Black Tea, Honey Black Milk Tea, Pomegranate Blackberry Black Tea and Mango Passion Peach Black Tea. For every drink sold, the club made $0.50, and it will donate most of the Tpumps fundraiser’s proceeds to these organizations.

According to Project Manager, sophomore Michelle Wang, the club chose to buy Pearl Milk Tea from Tpumps because of its popularity on social media. In March, Tpumps opened a branch in Cupertino, and has sparked hashtags on Twitter and Instagram.

“A lot of people are posting on Instagram, ‘oh, just got on that Tpumps bandwagon,’” Wang said. “I thought that it would a be a great opportunity for the school community to bond and to join in on something that they normally wouldn’t be required to.”

To publicize the fundraiser, Leo Club promoted the event through Facebook and the announcements. However, for students like junior Jenny Wan, the deciding factor was the widespread conversation about the event.

“Everyone in my sixth and seventh period was talking about it,” Wan said. “That’s how I knew [about the event.]”

At the end of the fundraiser, the club sold all 110 cups of Pearl Milk Tea that it had bought and made a profit of $55.

“Clearly, there’s a lot of people really interested in Tpumps, [so] I think that this [fundraiser was] really successful,” junior Rhea Choudhury said.