As the school year draws to a close, many various clubs and organizations at Bellevue College are preparing for next fall’s round of students and responsibilities.
The athletic department in particular has been working hard to get the funding they need approved for their next season. Little do people know that the basketball team at BC has been using their jerseys for thirteen long years. The baseball team has had their jerseys for eight years.
“The school doesn’t fund for travels. Fundraisers fund for it. Their last Associated Student Government fundraiser raised about $60,000,” commented Michael Yoon—2012-2013 ASG vice president of student affairs and pluralism. “Now they still have to make a choice between getting funded for the bus to games off campus or for new jerseys and of course they choose transportation over their jerseys.”
As spearhead of the push to get funding to sports teams to get new jerseys, Yoon said that the rumor has actually come from Keturah Anderson, campus life and events representative. “I don’t play any sports, actually,” said Yoon, “I just go to the gym. I heard it from Keturah that the baseball sport uniforms are actually thirteen years old and I thought, ‘What!’ That’s disgusting.” From there, he took that information to Mark Yoshino, associate athletic director.
After talking to Yoshino, Yoon found out that the basketball team actually received the approval of a $3,500 funding for 32 new jerseys—16 for during practice and 16 for tournaments.
Their next goal is to get funding approved for new baseball jerseys in the hopes that they will be available for the next season. “They should at least change every five years,” Yoon commented, “High schools get their own jerseys, it’s disgusting. I think the problem is that nobody knows. Not many people realize that a portion of their tuition goes into extracurricular activities like sports and things like the Ice Cream Social. They think it’s free but they’re actually paying $20 for ice cream. Why not take it for its money-worth?”