The Class of 2004 voted to renovate the Letts-Anderson Quad as its Senior Class Gift and plans to raise $50,000 by the end of the school year, said Melissa Chin, co-chair of the Senior Gift Committee.
"We have pledged our first $10,000 to the Eagle Endowment," she said. "It's a lot of money, so the gift committee has a big task ahead."
Chin and co-chair Brie DeFelice are in charge of fundraising, conducting the gift committee meetings and reaching out to seniors and the AU community to donate for the gift. All seniors are encouraged to donate $20.04 to the committee and, in return, their names will be added to a plaque at the site of the gift. The plaque will also list all the clubs involved with the project.
"The renovation of the LA Quad, which includes new benches and picnic tables, will allow it to be a lot more student-friendly," said Class of 2004 President E.J. Stern. "Hopefully, in the future, the LA Quad will be a place where students can do homework, hang out and get to know each other."
However, when this renovation will be started is unknown.
"The start date for the construction will be determined later in the year," said Scott Van Deusen, director of Annual Campaigns at AU. "As the scope of the project is determined by the money raised, it clearly does not make sense to begin construction prior to knowing what the renovations will be."
AU alumna Laura Swanstrom Reece, assistant director of Alumni Programs, is helping with the project.
"I think that the senior gift project is a great program," Reece said. "This opportunity allows other students a chance to take on a leadership role. It teaches students the importance of giving back to their university."
Reece said that the Class of 2004 is farther ahead than previous classes.
"They worked very hard this summer by creating the Web page for class members to vote," Reece said. "A couple hundred students voted, and the idea proved to be a huge success."
The choices on the Web site included a piece of art to be hung in the new Katzen Arts Center, a new media center and information desk in the Mary Graydon Center, the renovation of a residence hall lounge, and the LA Quad - the winning selection.
"Many seniors voted online, but the final tally for each vote cannot be disclosed," said Chin.
In recent years, AU seniors have been leaving their marks around campus. The Class of 1997 gave a large globe to Bender Library, and the Class of 1998 gave money for new lampposts in the Quad, located near the 9-11 Memorial Plaza - which was a gift of the Class of 2002. The Class of 2001's gift was the Mary Graydon Center Cyber Caf?, and the Class of 2003 gave two Party Animal statues that currently sit in Bender Arena but will be moved to the Arts Center when it is completed.
Other visible gifts around campus include the clock outside Bender Library, donated by the Class of 1992, and the Abbey Joel Butler Plaza by the Battelle-Tompkins building, funded in part by the Class of 1993. The flagpole on the Quad in front of the Mary Graydon Center and the Woods-Brown Amphitheatre were both funded by the Class of 1929, AU's fourth graduating class as an undergraduate institution.
Reece said the "1999 and 2000 gifts are incomplete as the funds raised were insufficient for the completion of the projects ... If these projects are completed in the future, the funds raised will still go toward the project and the appropriate class name will be associated with that gift."
The next senior class fundraiser will be Sunday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. in the Tavern. The Class of 2004 will host the "All-American Auction," which involves AU faculty and staff auctioning off their talents or gifts, including dinner for four with President Benjamin Ladner and his wife, a personalized poem, salsa lessons and a chair in the Greenberg Theatre with the high bidder's name on it.
Another fundraiser the seniors plan to have is entitled "Take a Gift, Give a Gift." Seniors who donate $20.04 during the first week in December will receive a present in return, such as gift certificates or coupons to local venues on and off campus.
For more information on the Class of 2004 Senior Gift Project see www.giving.american .edu/gift.
