<p>Hello parents! I'm a current sophomore on the class gift committee at my school. Each year, we have a tradition in which sophomores give a gift to the school. Usually, this is something that is either useful or symbolic to students on-campus; past gifts have included fixing a bell, school bikes, an internship scholarship program, and vending machine card swipers which will take meal points. </p>
<p>I was wondering if you have any ideas or thoughts on what we could possibly give for our class gift (our budget is 12K). In addition, I'd also be interested in hearing about past class gifts that you happen to know about at other colleges/universities. Thanks so much for your input!</p>
<p>Usually it is the alumni giving the gift as a 25th reunion or some such fund drive. I would think current students shouldn’t be adding costs to their education, especially hundreds of dollars. Also, any gift would be to yourselves as you still have 2 more years to benefit. I feel it is highly inappropriate- how obligated are students in paying for this? It is much easier for alumni with jobs to donate - and to take a long range view of the impact.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply wis75… you bring up some interesting points about the thinking behind the idea of even having a sophomore (or senior) class gift.</p>
<p>The idea of the class gift is to introduce students to philanthropy (it’s like a senior class gift, but for sophomores). The tradition was started several years ago by a sophomore class that wanted to repair the bell that is atop one of the buildings on-campus. They raised the money both through contributions by the class (most students contribute no more than $25) and with the help of several alumni who agreed to match their total amount raised (up to $5000 I believe). The idea is that, although students are encouraged to participate, they are certainly not required to. If they’re unable to afford contributing or don’t feel comfortable to, it’s not an issue. We ask our classmates for money; however, it is always with the caveat that they’re capable of giving and actually interested in doing so.</p>
<p>In addition to getting students involved in philanthropy, the purpose of the class gift is also to give students the chance to contribute something they feel is important to the school community. As current students, we have a unique viewpoint into what the campus could use: the idea is that we are to come up with a gift that would be beneficial to students, but wouldn’t fall under the category of something that the school should be doing by itself (such as making a building handicapped accessible). In addition, the committee also works with the head of the Development Office in order to ensure that the choice of gift made is appropriate and logical, in the long term. We’re certainly not looking to give the school something that would only be useful for the two years we’d still be at the school.</p>
<p>I go to Littleatheist’s school and I think the sophomore class gift is stupid too… and maybe someone should let the people asking for money know about this caveat because I definitely got guilted into donating last year. And I wasn’t even a sophomore last year… nor do I think that card swipes for vending machines are even remotely useful. Hmm. </p>
<p>Moral of the story: BOO Sophomore Class Gift!</p>
<p>There is a time for giving and a time for receiving- I think your classes have it mixed up. A gift to one’s self is not an example of philanthropy- that would involve receiving no benefit from your actions. I know of alumni from other schools who refuse to give because they were ticked off by the way the school handled something after graduation- some potentially wealthy donors of the future may react in this way (there is evidence of it in the above post) and years later the college misses out. I agree the recent practice should be allowed to be a thing of the past.</p>