Alina Yu

Senior Semanti Naiken looks over the choir poinsettia sale form with junior Aidan Mellor. The choir department started to sell the flowers prior to the holiday season four years ago.

The choir department is having its fourth annual poinsettia sale until Friday, Nov. 2, according to director of choirs Kathrine Kouns. Poinsettias are sold in the colors of red, white, pink and ice crystals in sizes of 6.5 inches and 8 inches. The delivery date is Nov. 30.

Accent and senior Semanti Naiken said, “I like how festive (the sale) is and how it really works with the atmosphere around this time of year.”

According to Kouns, every year the choir buys flowers from Heartland Growers in Westfield for an affordable cost that allows members of the community to buy the flowers at a similar price, while the choir department gains profit. Kouns said that this profit goes towards the general budget of the department, where funds go towards offsetting the cost of student fees, purchasing rollover costumes or extra surplus of costume, renting new equipment and bringing in guest clinicians.

“I’m not a big proponent of fundraisers where you just sell stuff, like candies or magazines or wrapping paper,” Kouns said. “It’s just never my favorite thing because a) I don’t think people really need those things very much and b) they are usually very overpriced.”

Naiken said she believes the sale is not only beneficial to the choir department but also to the community.

Naiken said, “I think that having people in the mindset to be festive really helps when asking people to buy poinsettias because it has something to do with the season. Also, the poinsettias are of really good quality and last a really long time.”