Hanszen grabs another trophy in donations competition

By Catherine Bratic     3/26/09 7:00pm

Although Will Rice College swept all of the Beer Bike races, they fell short in one contest on the morning of Beer Bike: the College Battle giving campaign. With an overall alumni, senior and parent participation rate of 8.5 percent, Hanszen College beat out the other eight colleges to win the College Battle campaign, which supports the Annual Fund. Baker College came in second with a participation rate of 8.2 percent, and Jones College took third with a 7.2 percent contribution rate.

As a reward, Hanszen will receive the Sammy Cup, a trophy designed by Mary Lyon Train, a fourth-year architecture student at Martel College, and $1,000 to its student life budget. Hanszen plans to use the money to purchase grills for its quad, associate director of the Annual Fund Evan Morgan said.

This is the third year that the College Battle has been held and the first year that it has included seniors and parents of current students in addition to the alumni.

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Morgan said the addition of the senior class added fuel to the campaign.

"[The inclusion of senior students] helped to show alumni that seniors were on board with this, and that increased their participation even more," Morgan said.

A total of 1,646 alumni, 402 parents and 225 members of the class of 2009 contributed nearly $416,000 to the Centennial Campaign through the Annual Fund over a one-month period, according to Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond.

Morgan said participation in the Annual Fund was dramatically affected by the College Battle, increasing the giving rate from 20 percent before the campaign to 29 percent during.

Overall, senior participation was 27.8 percent, parent participation was 9.5 percent and alumni participation was 9.3 percent.

Annual Fund contributions fund student scholarships as well as student events, Morgan said. This year, the fund provided $3.5 million worth of student scholarships, and the Development Office plans to expand that amount next year. Additionally, the Annual Fund sponsored International Beer Night at Willy's Pub and the Beer Debates during Willy Week this year.

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