Photo by Taylor Nyman ’17
If you haven’t noticed, this week on campus I LOVE WSU and I AM HERE BECAUSE OF DONORS tags were plastered all over the place in recognition of I Love WSU Week. This week has been really crucial in trying to educate students and to also be proud of this awesome school.
I Love WSU Week is all about school pride and also respecting the people who helped make this institution better. There have been so many events that have been going on this week and I’m proud to say that I have been involved in them. This is something new that WSU is trying to do to promote why giving back is critical to WSU’s success.
Alumni Relations is the department that hosts I love WSU Week. Reconnecting with alumni helps to forge that relationship with past graduates. It shows that the university cares about the alumni’s well being and their success after graduation. Besides I Love WSU Week, Alumni Relations also throws alumni events to reconnect alumni from various graduation years.
For I Love WSU Week, I participated in the Get The Scoop On Philanthropy event. On Wednesday, Feb. 17, I recruited people into writing thank you notes to donors. Writing a thank you is a very simple way to show how much you appreciate what someone has done.
The Integrated Wellness Complex (IWC) was funded entirely on donations and generous people willing to give back. I can’t imagine going to WSU without having the IWC because it’s so integral to my Exercise Science major. Of course, it helped that we had free ice cream after you filled out a thank you card, but it’s important that students know that our donors are recognized for giving back.
I’m passionate about the success of this university, and participating in I Love WSU Week has inspired me to want to give back after I graduate. I happily paraded around the Smaug recruiting people to write thank you notes. The WSU Foundation has helped me incredibly in my journey throughout college so I try and educate about the foundation to other students, which is why I participated in this event.
If I’m on campus next year, depending on where my internship will be, I will happily participate in this event again. I love being able to educate students on how to give back and how to help future students. It’s cool to talk to others who had no idea how fortunate they are for the alumni who stepped up and donated their time and funding to WSU.
I love WSU and this week was very much needed for the student body and faculty.
