What do students bouncing off each other while encased in an inflatable “ball,” tricycle races, and jumping over a moving bar in a game called the Wipeout Eliminator have to do with raising money for Illinois Wesleyan University?
It’s all about building school spirit, shared experiences and a strong connection to the university, organizers of All In For Wesleyan said.
While many students were laughing, cheering and competing in the Quad Games on Thursday, other students and staff member were making phone calls and sending emails as part of a daylong fundraising drive. The event, which ended at midnight, raised $539,882, or 107 percent of its $500,000 goal, from 1,940 donors, according to its website.
All In For Wesleyan is “a one-day giving campaign, but it’s also become sort of a spirit day,” said Van Miller, director of annual giving. It started late Wednesday, shortly before midnight, when students gathered in the Hansen Student Center wearing white T-shirts with the All in for Wesleyan logo. President Eric Jensen and other administrators sprayed students — and others — with various colors of washable paint, part of this year’s theme of “Soaked in Spirit.”
Emerging slightly out of breath after a round of Knockerball — a game in which people encased in giant inflatable spheres run at each other in pursuit of a ball — on Thursday afternoon, student body President Lane Bennett of Oakwood said students enjoy the games but they have a serious side, too.
“It’s a great way to get students excited so when they graduate they give back to the university,” said the sophomore in political science. “They’ll remember this as a day when they had a lot of fun.”
The plan is working. This is the fourth year of All in for Wesleyan and the third in which students have been involved.
During last year’s campaign, graduates in the class of 2014 — the first to experience All in for Wesleyan as students — gave more gifts than any other class, according to Miller. The size of the gift doesn’t matter as much as keeping alumni engaged and connected with the university, Miller said. That was particularly true with the challenge from the Alumni Board of Directors to collectively donate $24,000 if 1,200 people donated — in any amount — by midnight.
The hub of fundraising activity, the Joslin Atrium in the Memorial Center, was filled with more green — a Wesleyan school color along with white — than at a St. Patrick’s Day party. There were green balloons, green candy, green foam fingers, green streamers and a lot of people in green clothes.
“Social media have played a big role in building the excitement,” said Miller. In addition to Facebook, the campaign was using Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to reach out to potential donors.
Even coaches, faculty and administrators got involved. Women’s lacrosse coach Lindsey Rosecrans still had a smile on her face after being knocked to the ground by one of her players, sophomore Claire Quist, who later found herself upside-down in a rousing game of Knockerball.
“It’s not just the teams doing it. Everyone is intermingling,” Rosecrans said. “That’s what so cool about it.”
“We get to be playful,” Carney-Hall said. “Sometimes in higher education, we can take ourselves too seriously.”