Seniors' Gift Will Help Move Colby-Sawyer Forward
With a 72 percent participation level, the Class of 2009 came together to present Colby-Sawyer with a senior class gift of $755. The effort catapults the class into the top five senior gift campaigns within the last 15 years, according to Mike Gregory, assistant director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving.
The 115 seniors who contributed to the gift campaign demonstrated that gifts of any size are welcomed and make a difference. The top priorities were green initiatives to support the college's efforts to move toward sustainability and new team or athletic photographs to display in the Dan and Kathleen Hogan Sports Center.
Other top categories were scholarships and unrestricted funds, followed by gifts designated for student life, technology, campus maintenance, teaching and learning, and the library.
Class advisor Kristine Macagba worked with gift committee members Colin Bellavance, Megan Comolli, Katelyn Kimball and Nicole Poelaert to drive the giving.
Ryan Emerson, director of sports information, looks forward to using the funds earmarked for new photographs to display in Hogan. “The images we have in mind will be 24 by 36 inches and hang in the hallway by the gym,” he says. “Including the images, frames and matting, the gift is enough for three new photographs, which we hope to hang prior to the students coming back.” Under consideration are images of track and field, men's basketball and diving/swimming.
This is the second year that seniors have chosen to present the college with funds instead of the traditional single physical gift. While past classes have presented Colby-Sawyer with items such as the Adirondack chairs that grace the Quad, the flexibility of their gifts' destinations is popular with seniors and provides them the same giving opportunities they will have as alumni.
