Every club and organization has their motivation, and for the Manhattan High School Anime Club, members strive for a grand trip to Overland Park, Kansas through fundraising and concessions.

The club’s goal is to visit Naka-kon, an event that brings lovers of anime, comics, graphic novels and fandom culture together to socialize. Its numbers have grown well into the thousands over the years, and Anime Club is eager to join the party. As of late, Anime Club has recently finished up their coffee sales, their first step in the direction of visiting Naka-kon.

“I think we did a pretty okay job,” club president Anna Mackay, junior, said. “I feel confident that we did well with our coffee sales to start the sales with.”

Anime Club holds their annual coffee sales to kick off their fundraising, selling an assortment of coffee, tea and cookies from the company Giving Bean. Ordering anything from the fundraiser is available for students, teachers and parents alike.

“I think [the fundraiser] went pretty much the same, if not better, compared to last year,” junior Haleigh Parks said. “We might do coffee again this year to pair it with the other sales and fundraisers we do to raise money.”

The funds needed to take the entirety of the club are not cheap; buses, hotel rooms and gas take up a huge portion of the funds required. Members and representatives know better than to slack off if they want an opportunity to visit Naka-kon, an event surrounded in nothing but positive reviews.

“It’s a lot of fun to be able to go to Naka-kon with the club,” Mackay said. “It’s really fun to interact with other people there and attend all the different events they have.”

Naka-kon does not only welcome fans, but it also features guests like voice actors, cosplay stars and performing artists. Along with that, fans can register to put on guest panels and entertain attending audiences, enter cosplay contests to have their hand-made costumes judged and can shop for merchandise, spending as much money as they want.

“[Last year] it was really cool to go to the convention with the club,” Parks said. “All of us getting to dress up and go to events was amazing to me. The start of fundraising this year has been great, and I can’t wait to see what else we will be able to do this year to help raise the money and go.”