Home Stretch for the Senior Class Gift
Surprise drawing for Red Sox tickets today
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (SED’87) with a bowl filled with names of students who made donations to the 2012 Class Gift. Photo by Cydney Scott
There’s another surprise in store for those who donated to the 2012 Class Gift campaign: in addition to the lucky winner chosen to throw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game, another senior will win four skybox seats to the same May 15 game. That winner will be drawn at random on Monday afternoon via Facebook and Twitter.
The Class Gift campaign is a student-driven initiative that allows a graduating BU class to earmark funds to the offices, programs, and projects that mean the most to them. No donation is too small: from $1 to $100, everything is welcome and appreciated.
The Class of 2012 has already passed the goal of having 2,012 members donate to the cause, an achievement that earned them a lottery in which one student was selected to throw out the first pitch at the May 15 Red Sox home game. The winner was drawn by Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore (SED’87) at last Thursday’s Senior Breakfast.
And the winner is…Dylan M. Moir (COM’12).
“We are definitely on track to beat last year’s record,” says Allie Rowe (GSM’12), manager of student philanthropy programs at Development & Alumni Relations. “Last year we had 2,464 donors by the end of the year, with $66,000 donated. This year, we’re up to 2,093 donors, with $49,560 donated.”
So far this year, the School of Management has the highest participation rate (53 percent of seniors donating) among the University’s schools and colleges. They were thanked with a barbecue last week in the GSU Alley.
In addition to rewarding seniors with barbecues and other prizes, giving can boost the position of BU in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of top schools. The magazine considers, among many things, the percentage of alums who donate.
By giving at least $20.12, a senior can choose a mentor, a professor, or even a classmate to be honored. The honoree will receive a handwritten thank-you note and a small gift in June. Students can also earmark a donation of any size toward one of a total of 83 funds, ranging from specific schools or colleges, scholarships, athletics, the Community Service Center, or student life.
Posse scholar Sharrod McClusky (CAS’12) chose to direct his $20.12 donation to scholarships, so that a future student could have the kind of opportunity he had. He considers his degree from BU “a huge stepping-stone.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to attend BU if it hadn’t been for others’ generosity,” he says. “So I gave because BU has given so much to me.”
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