Students are preparing to gather donations through the 2014 Class Giving Campaign to develop the senior class gift for this year.
Allison Hotard, assistant director of annual giving for campaigns, said the 2014 senior class gift is still a work in process.
“We are ironing out the process,” Hotard said. “We just started meeting in the beginning of January and we actually won’t launch the campaign itself until the Grad Fair.”
Hotard said the Grad Fair, an opportunity for seniors to prepare for graduation by ordering their supplies and verifying the status of their graduation application, will take place on Feb. 17 – Feb. 19 of this year.
Katie Campbell, English writing senior and member of the senior class gift committee, said the different members of the committee have been contacting each other to discuss what to do for the class gift.
Angela Book, managing and marketing senior and member of the committee, said they are deciding on how to market the class gift – how to show the seniors what they are putting their money toward and to get them to donate money.
“What we’re doing is basically trying to figure out what the seniors would want their gift to be,” Book said.
Campbell said the committee all agree on a single idea for the class gift. However, she said they are trying to be realistic regarding how much money they can fundraise.
“Between the four of us, we’re pretty ambitious,” Campbell said. “So of course we’re thinking, ‘Yeah, we can definitely make all of this money’, when sometimes you got to think about reality. So, we are still thinking about it.”
Campbell said the committee is going to try to market and receive donations through the web, social media and posters instead of scheduling a table in the Danna Student Center. She said they want to try to reach as many people as possible.
“It’s kind of stripping away the unnecessary times of trying to market it and coming up with different ways,” Campbell said.
Hotard said Loyola’s law students will receive a separate class gift called the Three L Class Gift.
“We will be doing a centennial scholarship because the law school is celebrating their 100th anniversary,” Hotard said.
The tradition of the senior class began 13 years ago when the class of 2000 gave Loyola a bronze replica of the Loyola seal, which is located in the Palm Court on campus. The latest class gift was when the Senior 2013 Class Scholarship was awarded to an incoming freshman who demonstrated leadership and had a financial need for tuition assistance.
Other past senior class gifts include fixing the fountain located near Greenville Hall on the Broadway Campus, the 12 Pillars of Jesuit Education in front of Monroe Library, the French Quarter Howard Clock in front of the library, the Hurricane Katrina sculpture in the Academic Quad and a replica sculpture of a streetcar near Bobet Hall.
Hotard said she feels the meaning of the class gift is showing past and current students that the graduating class believes in Loyola and believes where Loyola will continue to go in the future.Both Campbell and Book feel the class gift is an opportunity for the seniors to keep their presence on Loyola’s campus.
“We did it,” Book said. “We graduated Loyola and we’ve left our mark.”
Book and Campbell said specific details regarding the gift will be announced once planning is complete.
Burke Bischoff may be reached at [email protected]
