Senior Toast raises money for student funds

By Jaecey Parham     10/21/14 4:12pm

The Class of 2015 had an opportunity to participate in their Senior Gift Campaign during the Senior Toast held at the Rice Gallery and Susan and Raymond Brochstein Courtyard. The Rice Annual Fund, which covers everything tuition and endowment cannot cover, including providing scholarship aid, hosted the event.

Lovett College senior Sayra Alanis said she is a recipient of financial aid, and said she likes that she can now give back. 

“Somebody did it for us,” Alanis said. “We should do it for future students.” 

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Students can choose to donate specifically to undergraduate scholarships, their respective college, athletic team, organization or simply to the area of greatest financial need. 

Hanszen College senior Hannelle Fares acknowledged that tuition is already steep , which brings to question whether students should have to feel compelled to give more money. 

“Helping out the student clubs that are important to me is worth the donation,” Fares said. 

Other seniors seem to also enjoy the ability to give back to the groups they were involved with during their four years at Rice.  

Baker College senior Rico Marquez recognized that college can be a formative time for all.

“It’s nice to give back to organizations that helped make us who we are,” Marquez said.

Jones College senior Vaughan Andrews also said he appreciated the option to donate to specific organizations. 

“My favorite experiences are because of the organizations I was involved with, so it’s nice to give back to those,” Andrews said.  

“This year’s Senior Gift goals are $12,000 and 70 percent participation amongst seniors,” Erika Moul, Rice Annual Fund Assistant Director, said.

Moul said this goal exceeds the Class of 2014’s gift of $10,300 and participation rate of 63 percent. 

Duncan College Senior Gift Representative and Rice Annual Fund intern Anastasia Bolshakov believes the event went extremely well. 

“I had a ton of people come up to me at Senior Toast and tell me what a wonderful event it was. I’m glad that it went so well since many senior events were cut last year, it was a great way for us to celebrate our time at Rice,” Bolshakov said. 

The three residential colleges with the highest participation rates from seniors receive a monetary incentive. Last year, Jones College achieved 99 percent participation, making it the highest out of the residential colleges. The respective college this year will present the Senior Gift check during halftime at the Homecoming football game on Nov. 8.  

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