From February to April, the Bowie girls and boys lacrosse teams participated in a fundraiser to help support their self-sufficient teams. The lacrosse teams do not receive any funding annually from the school district, placing them at a disadvantage for the materials and equipment needed to execute the teams properly. 

Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports in Texas and the southern region as a whole. Bowie introduced girls lacrosse as a club sport more than a decade ago and it has continued to flourish along with the introduction of the boys team. 

“Lacrosse is not a UIL sport, which means we do not get any support from the school,” Senior defender Julianne Peña said. “To combat this issue, we hold a fundraiser every year to raise money for the team.”

The money made from fundraising helps buy equipment such as balls, goals, cones, and paint. Funds also go to coaches salaries, travel expenses, officiating and league fees, as well as medical staff and banquet supplies. Fundraising is crucial to the expenses of running a sports team. 

“The platform we use is called Vertical Raise,” Peña said. “ It’s a website that the whole team makes accounts for and we can send out emails and texts to friends and family to help out Bowie lacrosse.”

The team also works on advertising the fundraiser to the community.

“To advertise, we made a video explaining what the money was for and connected it to the fundraiser,” Peña said. “I think if a person can clearly see where and who the donations go toward, they’re more likely to donate.”

In total, the Vertical Raise fundraiser produced $7,060 out of their initial $10,000 goal. Over 70% of the goal was met and aided the team tremendously throughout the final weeks of their season.

“This fundraiser is very important to me because as a senior, this is my last year playing with the team,” Peña said. “I want this program to keep running and keep teaching girls how to play lacrosse for years to come.”