Students buying tickets for the Homecoming Formal dance now have the option of donating five dollars in addition to the $50 ticket fee to the recovery fund for Kevin Chen ’19. Chen, a former head prefect, was hospitalized over the summer due to a brain aneurysm and spent several weeks in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center before he was transferred to a respiratory hospital in Van Nuys.

Prefects propose fundraiser idea

Senior Prefect Landon Poon ’20 proposed the idea to other members of Prefect Council, who supported the suggestion. Head Prefect Grace Burton ’20 said that she liked the idea because she felt that many in the community would welcome the chance to help.

“We thought it would be a good way to support [Chen], and we wanted to give people the opportunity to help because we know that the community wants to,” Burton said.

Evan Roderick ’21, who played football with Chen, said that Chen’s influence on him and the community during his time at the school inspired him to contribute.

“Kevin has been somebody I’ve known since I was six, and he’s always been a positive member of the community,” Roderick said. “To see somebody who’s done so much good in his life be put in such a terrible situation, this is the least I can do to help him.”

According to the GoFundMe page, Chen’s health insurance will not cover all his medical bills. The campaign, started in August by Tracy Wang (Catherine ’11, Charlie ’21), raised about half of its $100,000 goal at the time of publishing.