On a normal Monday morning, I walked to second period as my interest was piqued by the new passing period music. It was “Baby” by Justin Bieber. From there on out, the atmosphere at Naperville North was completely changed.

I myself thought nothing of it, amused by the moving mouths of many students, lip-syncing or dancing to a song that reminded me of my junior high years.

But this song, although seemingly playful, brought about many negative reactions. These reactions were shocking to a large number of students and staff.

The music seemed to begin without notice, and a couple days later, an organization called the Healthy Huskies announced that they were implementing a new fundraiser: the same song would play until students donated enough money to reach their goal of $1,500.

All of sudden, many student reactions erupted into those of negativity. Students were found chatting and gossiping in the hallways and in classrooms. Social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, were posted on to express grievances.

On the Naperville North Confessions Facebook page, an anonymous student said, “I don’t appreciate being bullied for my lunch money to stop annoying music. I think it’s sort of childish, and thought our school was better than this.”

Even in reply to the social media posts, many responses were simply about communication. What are the donations even for? What does the club actually do?

Senior Nicole Marcus attempted to see the both the positives and negatives in the situation.

“I just thought it was funny,” Marcus said. “But I feel like it’s not the best way to motivate high school students.”

Although less offended than many, Marcus said that she could not find a link to donate anywhere, except on Twitter.

Justin Bieber is widely considered a controversial person – many people are very opinionated about him as a person in addition to him being a very relevant topic in today’s news. Playing “Baby” in the hallways perhaps was bound to create issues.

Junior Jimmy Coffey was one of those who felt that playing Bieber’s song was disrespectful.

“I just didn’t feel like it was right to basically try to use somebody else’s work to annoy other people,” Coffey said.

Like many students, Coffey said that he didn’t even know what the fundraiser was for.

According to the Healthy Huskies’ GoFundMe (the platform used to donate), “The goal of $1,500 will go toward bringing an assembly speaker to NNHS (like Chris Herren), drug-free promotional events (like Red Ribbon Week), and Healthy Huskie programs at feeder jr. highs and elementary schools.”

This message was largely misunderstood, miscommunicated or simply not heard by the students of NNHS.

Tobey Sanford, an unofficial sponsor of the Healthy Huskies, said he admits that the overall execution about the specific details of the fundraiser could have been better. Still, Sanford hoped that students would have recognized the fundraiser in a more positive light.

“The idea was to come up with a unique way to raise money,” Sanford said. “My hope was that Huskies could smile and say, oh this is silly and ridiculous, and just get involved.”

The Healthy Huskies’ GoFundMe has a total of $10 donated, though Sanford wouldn’t comment on the total amount raised. The organization is still accepting donations.

Unfortunately, many of the student members of the organization have also been affected by this fundraiser. Junior Gabby Champion, a passionate member of the Healthy Huskies, hoped that this fundraiser would help students understand their message.

“It’s really hurtful,” Champion said. “The last thing I want to do is hurt people. I want to help.”

Champion said that the overall reactions made her feel uncomfortable in her classes.

Why should a student feel like this in a place that supposedly has a positive atmosphere?

While this fundraiser created a large controversy at NNHS, the point that Sanford makes is quite interesting: fundraising is becoming harder and harder, and clubs have to be increasingly more creative in the way they raise money.The problem, perhaps, is not simply with the Healthy Huskies. This fundraiser is a sign of a bigger issue.

It is not unusual to walk the hallways and see numerous students with order forms for various items. The CEC raised money by selling popcorn, the choir students raised money by selling pies, and the orchestra sells cookies every year, in hopes to have money to create a better program.

I have found myself in this exact situation. Fundraising is difficult, and clubs are desperate for funds.

In an article published in the Chicago Tribune, Robert Channick reports that fundraising is a necessity and an obligation in schools. The fundraising business itself generates 3.3 billion dollars annually.

Dean of Student Activities Jennifer Baumgartner said that at NNHS, fundraising is especially difficult with the state-mandated food restrictions, which state that no competing food can be sold between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

These laws have caused many issues at NNHS, as seen in 2013 when Fannie May chocolate bars and DECA Donuts were taken out of the contenders for possible fundraisers, according to Baumgartner.

“[The Healthy Huskies] were trying to be creative and this was a way of being creative,” Baumgartner said. “Unfortunately there’s not a lot of money to be handed out and there’s not a lot of things to do.”

The Healthy Huskies’ fundraiser unfortunately received the brunt of negativity related to this ongoing problem of club fundraising. Creativity is becoming more and more necessary, and the only way to help this issue is to try new things. As the classic cliché states: we learn from our mistakes.

“Everybody still stands by the mission and we want to keep working to have an impact on the school,” Sanford said.

And that is essentially the moral of this drawn-out story. Students should be willing to be creative. They should be excited to try new things and see where they go.

With good intentions, the Healthy Huskies made a mistake. But because of all the difficulty that clubs are facing with fundraising, mistakes are inevitable. For now, we have insight into what works and what doesn’t, because in the end, the goal is to make NNHS a more pleasant place to be.