Sr. Challenge kicks off campaign

Organizers deem carnival a success, estimate over 75 donations

Kathryn Gariano / contributing photographer Graduate student Erin Strine, left, paints the face of senior Andrew Hart during the Senior Class Challenge Kickoff night in the College Center Grand Ballroom.

Monday night marked the first-ever Senior Class Challenge Kickoff Carnival in the College Center Grand Ballroom.

The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the Senior Class Challenge and to "get people excited about giving," according to senior Katie Hochradel, co-chair of the carnival.

With the help of Student Organization Night, which, because of snow delays was held in the same location at the same time, hundreds of people attended and took advantage of the free cotton candy, popcorn and moon bounce, and participated in games such as Twister and trivia. Dozens of door prizes were given away randomly to those who donated, including diploma frames donated by the JMU Bookstore, a special parking pass at Godwin for graduation and gift certificates to many locations including Kroger, Qdoba, Wal-Mart, Applebees, Joshua Wilton House and Dave's Taverna.

In addition, everyone who donated Monday night received a free Senior Class Challenge T-shirt.

"We put together a lot of great prizes to show that we mean business this year and that we appreciate everyone's contribution," said senior Matt Brownlee, student director.

The committee's goal this year is to have 100 percent participation from all the seniors.

"We would rather have the entire class give $20 than we would a few people give a lot," Hochradel said.

This year also is the first that gives the donor the opportunity to decide where he or she wants his or her money to go.

"People are more likely to give if they know what they are giving it for," said senior Liz Rorrer, co-chair. She explained that if the donor did not specify where he or she wanted his or her money to go to, then the donation contributed to the Madison Fund.

The Senior Class Challenge was created in 1989 and since has raised nearly $400,000, not including money already raised this year. Some of that money has contributed toward the Leeolou Alumni Center, improvements to the library, and most recently, the Sept. 11, 2001, memorial.

This also is the first year, however, that the committee of the Senior Class Challenge has put together an event like the carnival. The carnival gained a lot of publicity by being in the same room as the Student Organization Night, according to senior Melissa Diffley.

Students from every year were included in the event, which was to their advantage.

"As much as we aim to contact seniors, we also like to raise awareness with juniors and underclassmen so that we can get them interested in continuing this," Hochradel said. "It is our intention to make the carnival an annual event."

Overall, the committee felt that the carnival was a complete success. Brownlee said he was "extremely happy" with the reception the Senior Class Challenge received.

"Almost everyone we approached agreed to donate, and I believe that is something we will continue to see throughout the semester," he said. "My estimate is that we received over 75 donations tonight alone."

Anyone interested in getting involved with the Senior Class Challenge for next year can visit its Web site at www.jmu.edu/seniorchallenge for more information.