The Falcon   |   Volume 83, Issue 52

Published 5/22/13   |   Log In

Committee picks scholarship for senior gift

By BREYANNA WILSON

Published: April 18, 2012

It has become a tradition for graduating classes of Seattle Pacific to give a gift to the SPU community each year.

Usually, the senior class votes as a whole to decide what that gift will be, but in the last two years, there has been no vote; the gift has been predetermined to be a scholarship.

The senior gift committee, which was selected by Associated Students of Seattle Pacific President senior Josh Norquist, decided on a scholarship as a way to reach out to the community.

Past senior gifts have included a bench and a totem pole, but senior Jillian Leavitt, co-chairwoman of the senior gift committee, said the committee felt that the past senior gifts didn’t impact SPU as much as it felt they should.

“It was up to us to pick what to do,” Leavitt said.

The committee hopes to reach out to more people at SPU by giving a gift of a scholarship open to students of all class standings, unlike previous years, when it only went to an incoming freshman, said senior Becca Malech, co-chairwoman of the committee.

“We think something like a scholarship will have more of a lasting effect than [a tangible] gift,” Malech said.

Malech said there were a few people who did not like the idea for this year’s senior gift. She said she heard some comments such as, “SPU’s already trying to get us to donate, and we haven’t even graduated yet.”

Senior Ruby O’Connor said that not all seniors agreed with the gift or how its selection was orchestrated.

“At least one or two of my friends weren’t very happy about it,” she said.

O’Connor said she was unsure about whether a scholarship was the best idea for the senior gift.

“I kind of think it would be a good idea,” she said. “I think it would be cool that they could do something more than one scholarship for one student. But I don’t know what other needs there are.”

The committee has not set a target amount of money for the scholarship, but it hopes to get as many seniors as possible donating to raise as much money as possible.

The committee also hopes to involve more than just the senior class.

“We try as hard as possible to get people involved,” Malech said.

The senior gift committee has a few ways to raise money for the scholarship. Selling T-shirts and hosting a movie event to help the cause are plans for the near future.

“It’ll be fun,” Leavitt said, “Hopefully we can get a lot of other students excited about [the senior gift] too.”

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