Abby Sharpe is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Higley High School volleyball for AZPreps365.com.

Asking for money in the middle of a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on many families is the last thing anyone wanted to do.

But that’s the job of Higley High School’s volleyball booster club president, Rochelle Acosta. This isn’t a normal year, and Acosta can attest to that. In her first season as booster president, she’s ridden a rollercoaster of emotions and decisions that have faced Higley.

Normally, booster clubs raise money through fundraisers and sponsorships. They design and create team shirts and pay for tournaments. They fund raffles and support themed games.

Some of these things are the same, but modified, this year. Most are not.

“There are a lot of things we had to cut back on because of what kind of year it is,” Acosta said.

Typically, the booster club president reaches out to companies for donations or products to put in a raffle. These donations haven’t happened for Higley this year.

“A lot of the different companies are closed,” Acosta said. “Chick-fil-A [and other businesses] had to push back on that, coming from their corporate offices, just because the day and age we’re in.”

Acosta also mentioned that even if they did secure donations like they have in years past, it has been harder to fill the stands at games this year, with many families, friends and students choosing to stay home amid the pandemic. Higley is one of many high schools across Arizona that added cameras in their gym so they could live stream games to fans at home.

“Families have been very supportive though. Even though they don’t come so much to the games, they’ve been very willing to help out the girls in any way they can,” Acosta said. “It’s important having that family support from them.”

Higley hosted an online fundraiser where players accepted donations from friends, family and peers. This money is generally used to cover expenses the booster club accrues over the course of the season. This year though, Higley isn’t experiencing the same expenses as years past.

“We’ve cut back on a lot of stuff,” Acosta said. “For example, we didn’t have our trips or tournaments that we were funding out before for our players to go.”

Despite all the changes and cut-backs, players and their family and friends showed up in one big way this year: Higley raised more money this year through their annual online fundraiser than any year prior. She said the reason is that online donations is what most felt comfortable doing this year. Many didn’t want to or couldn’t commit to attending games in person, but family and other donors wanted to support the team and ensure they could get out and play this season.

Senior middle blocker Julia Price shared that her family did give a lot to her online fundraiser, and the impact of that didn’t go unnoticed by her.

“Everything counts so much, and it’s so generous that anyone donates their money,” Price said.

As far as not being able to use the money raised because of the differences this season, senior libero Becca Venjohn knows that it is important for the volleyball program in the long run.

“Even though we aren’t able to use all the money that I’m raising towards our team this year and I won’t benefit from it, it doesn’t really affect me that much because I know it’s helping the younger girls out and our program to get better,” she said.

Price echoed a similar sentiment.

“I know the boosters will do everything they can to make the best of what we have for the seniors, and that’s all that matters,” Price said. “The memories are always way more important to me than simply spending the money.”