❒ Benicia High yearbook staff hope to attend Boston journalism conference

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Imagine stepping out the front door to leave for work in the morning, keys and coffee in hand, still shaking off the cobwebs from last night’s slumber.

You open your front door, and something doesn’t quite register.

Your lawn is covered in large pink birds.

Flamingoes, to be exact.

A prank, to be sure, but this summertime prank is for a good cause: It’s a fundraiser to help send the Benicia High School yearbook staff to the National Journalism Education Association conference in Boston this November.

“We heard about this fundraising idea at the JEA conference in San Francisco in April,” said Brianna Kleinschmidt, Benicia High yearbook adviser.

“Then when we were in yearbook camp back June, we learned of another school in Windsor … one of their students did it as a fundraiser. He was going on an ambassador trip for the summer, and he individually as a freshman raised $3,000 in one summer this way.”

When a house is “flocked,” students leave a sign with the flamingos that says “You’ve been flocked!” Attached to the back of the sign is a ransom note that explains that flamingos are territorial and require specially trained staff to move them.

The note adds that students will arrive in two to three days to move the dozen or so pink birds. And it offers “flocked” homeowners a choice: “You can choose, ‘Thank you this is fun, but we can’t donate at this time,’ or you can make a donation,” Kleinschmidt said.

The ransom note also offers the option to send the flamingos to a specific residence. “You can also buy flamingo insurance so they don’t return to you again,” Kleinschmidt said.

“Sometimes you will send them to one person, and they’ll send them right back to you. It’s kind of a flocking war going on.”

So far, the yearbook class has raised more than $1,000 since the end of July, and they plan to continue the fundraiser through the end of August. In some cases multiple lawns may be flocked simultaneously, Kleinschmidt said, because it will cost about $1,000 per student to go to Boston, and the goal is to send eight.

It’s not a vacation, she said: The students will take intensive classes and engage in writing and photography competitions.

“They are there to work for those three days,” Kleinschmidt said. “They learn a lot. It gives us a lot of ideas on how to come back to work on yearbook, but also journalism in general, which is great. It covers yearbook, newspaper, broadcasting, online media, legal and ethical issues … they get a bigger spectrum than just in yearbook.”

Fundraising to get what they need is nothing new to the yearbook staff. They haven’t received any funding for the school district for several years, Kleinschmidt said. Instead they work through the year to raise money to pay for student training, computers, software, cameras, equipment and conferences.

“Yearbook is self-funded. It’s not just a class, it’s actually a business, which a lot of people don’t know,” she said. “We keep our own budget, we raise any funds that we’re able to spend. We don’t get a budget from the school or anything like that.”

Nor do they make any money off the yearbook itself. “We charge $90 the first semester, then $95 during the second semester. The book costs us $89 and change,” Kleinschmidt said.

Feedback on the flocking fundraiser has been positive, she said. “People are getting a kick out of waking up the next morning and seeing a flock of flamingos on their lawn.”

Help Out
To donate to the Benicia High yearbook staff, have your yard flocked or send the flamingo flock to a friend, send an email to BHSYearbook@beniciaunified.org.