Why I Chose to Give Money Back to Binghamton
First of all I want to thank everyone so much for
selecting me as the winner of the Tweet of the Week challenge and Stephanie for
nominating me, it really meant a lot. The tweet that won the challenge was
something I retweeted, a Binghamton blog post titled "20 Things that
Wouldn't Exist in Binghamton University Without Your Support." I tweeted
about Binghamton because I was organizing Tag Day that same week. Tag Day was a
day on campus where SPC ambassadors and myself hung up tags around campus on
all the things that alumni donated to spread awareness to students about how
much of our campus was made possible by donors. I hope you saw them! If you
haven't checked it out, you definitely should check out what I retweeted, what’s
on the list might surprise you! http://blog.binghamton.edu/20-things-that-wouldnt-exist-at-binghamton-without-your-support
Alumni donations to Binghamton are surprisingly
something that I hold of great importance. I imagine that many of my fellow
classmates might be wondering why I care so much about alumni donations if I am
only a sophomore. I hear complaints from students all the time when I partake
in tabling or fundraisers for this school; the most common one being "I
pay enough tuition, why should I give back more of my money!?" A little
over a year ago I thought the same thing. I didn't care about alumni donations
to Bing and I definitely wasn't planning to give back money to this university,
especially since graduation seemed so far away. However, a good friend of
mine and next years SA President, Dillon Schade invited me to join the Student
Philanthropy Committee. The Student Philanthropy Committee, also referred to as
SPC, is a small student run group focused on increasing alumni donations to
Binghamton by instilling university pride in current students. We want students
to love Binghamton and be proud that they went to school here so when they
graduate they'll be more than happy to donate.
Why are alumni and student donations so important? They increase our
national rankings. Every past, present, and future Binghamton students wants
Bing to increase in national rankings for obvious reasons; it makes us look
better on paper if we went to a higher ranking school. A little known fact is
that alumni donations are part of the criteria that determine rankings. The
more alumni donations a university have, the better their rankings. Besides
national rankings, and this is the more important reason alumni donations are
so important is that donations aid to make this campus a better place. So much
of this campus wouldn’t be possible without alumni contributions, such as
campus plants and structures, the Fleishman Center, and the Philanthropy
Incubator! Tuition is not enough to cover the extras the campus needs. Alumni
donations are what makes our campus a better, more exciting, and more intense
learning environment. Many of the facilities and opportunities at this
University wouldn’t exist without the generosity of donors.
I don’t want to preach to you guys about how important it is to give
back or seem that I am annoying you about donating back to the school. I
understand we are all #brokecollegestudents. What I do want to do is make you
love your experience at Binghamton so much that when you are rich and
successful you will give back. Student donations are important to this campus and
I do want you to realize that every contribution counts, but its okay if you
cant give! The SPC is working on events that will unite Binghamton students,
events that hopefully become traditions that students will remember for years
to come. One of them is Happy Office Hours. This event is for seniors only and
it is exactly what it sounds like, a mix between Happy Hours and Office Hours.
Students will have the chance to drink and mingle with their professors on
campus to get to know them on a more personal level. Everyone in SPC is really
excited about this event and if you are a senior you should definitely sign up!
The only caveat is that seniors who donated will have priority registering for
this event.
I hope this post wasn’t too preachy, considering a portion of the money
I am giving away is money that students in the class donated I thought it was
important to explain why I am giving your money away to Binghamton University.
This university and SPC are two things I am really passionate about and I hope
that came across. Please let me know any more events you think will unite the
student body and make students love Bing even more!
P.S. Vote for Baxter J
Hi Celine, thanks for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI used to think along the same lines as you did- that I was already paying enough for school! Why did they need my donations as well? I am starting to learn more and more that colleges are all about philanthropy. Tuition costs may be rising, but without support from donations, they would be even higher. Donations to colleges help to keep tuition low, and help to fund services that may otherwise not exist at all.
I never realized just how much on campus is funded by donations! I think that it is wonderful that so many alumni choose to give back to their colleges, paying it forward to other future alumni. This cycle helps to maintain a high level of education in America's colleges and universities. Education is very key to the success of society in the future, and is something that should be of utmost importance.
I think that donating to their alma mater is something that everyone should do. It helps to maintain a high level of education while lowering tuition costs. It also helps to provide services that may not exist otherwise.
I LOVE all of your Binghamton pride Celine! I totally agree with you, giving back to our university is crucial. I am a senior this year, so I am already trying to think of how I will give back to Binghamton in the future. Also, please update me if you hear more about the Happy Office Hours—what a unique idea!
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the semester, our class seemed to frequently discuss the differences between donating time and money. I think giving back to your alma mater is important, but more importantly I think it is important to note that the university is somewhere that both time and money donations are crucial.
While it is important to donate your time to charitable organizations, often volunteers can often be replaced or they may feel that their time is not being spent productively. But a university can never have enough alumni helping out and serving as a resource to the student body in a productive manner. One of the many reasons I fell in love with Binghamton was because of the Harpur LACE program. It is a summer externship experience where you are matched with an alumnus in your prospective career field. I was lucky enough to not only be placed at my first choice location, but also was able to meet several Binghamton alumni working in the same company. The thing that the coordinating alumna emphasized to me was that the biggest gift I could give a student was offering them the same opportunity she gave me. She was so proud of her Binghamton background and really believed that it allowed her to have a successful career. I think we should all try to find someway to stay connected to the university after donating and if possible, I believe part of this should be a similar donation of time. Even if you’re living across the country, remember to reach out and see how you can be involved. Earlier this semester, Alexandria was kind enough to donate her time back to us and I am sure she wouldn’t have done that if she was not happy with her outcomes after graduating from Binghamton. Anyway you can stay connected can have an impact, so try to make that effort.
It is so important to remember that we do have a chance to play a role in our rankings. Our university’s endowment can bring in impressive students who may otherwise choose to go somewhere else. As seen in the article Celine attached, all the resources that allow us to further develop beyond just the basic academics inside the classroom are important and are funded through these donations.
While Celine did a great job describing the importance of money donations to Binghamton, please do not consider that a substitution for being active after graduation. Both are needed and serve different purposes. By helping the Binghamton reputation, you are helping yourself out too!
If you are interested in opportunities to be involved, either as an undergraduate or as an alumnus, below are some of the impressive opportunities I would recommend on our campus.
http://www.binghamton.edu/lace/overview.html (Especially for the Harpur underclassmen, please take a look at this—it is an amazing opportunity!)
http://www.binghamton.edu/alumni/events-chapters/metro-ny-chapter.html (After graduating, get involved with other alumni from your hometown community)
http://www.binghamton.edu/alumni/events-chapters/homecoming/index.html (After graduation, remember to come back for Homecoming)
Jess I loved your comment! You said you loved all my Binghamton pride and I love yours! Its so nice to be surrounded by my fellow students on this campus who are as happy to be here as I am. I know there has been a lot of controversy about the SFC and while I will not comment on my stance on them they disappointed me when they protested during admitted students weekend. I don't like when other students aren't happy either or when they are pushing that message to prospective students. What does make me happy however are that these students are not in majority and most students seem to love Bing already for the many reasons you described. I think this is evident in the fact that Baxter won the contest for best SUNY mascot, our school doesn't even place great emphasis on sports yet students came together to make Baxter number one for two years in a row!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question: Happy Office Hours will be on Tuesday, April 28th in the TAU Bearcat Room in the Events Center. You will be sent an email with a registration link shortly! I hope you can attend and feel free to contact me personally with any professors you would like the SPC to invite :) Please spread the word to the rest of your senior friends as well.
Jess you are definitely right in the fact that time is just as important as money. I didn't mean to overlook that fact, giving back time to the university is equally as crucial to making Binghamton a better place as giving back money is. I think this goes back to our debate about do intentions matter? I think it goes without saying that alumni who give their time back definitely have good intentions and definitely enjoyed their time on this campus.
There are many ways you can get involved and give back to campus as a student without donating money and same goes for alumni, as you mentioned with the Harpur Lace program. I have also wanted to sign up for a Harpur Lace event and shadow an alumni, I imagine it can be very helpful to see someone who went to Binghamton become so successful and I would be more comfortable asking questions about life after college to someone who went to Binghamton. Alumni events are great because its a guaranteed connection with someone, you already have something in common and there will never be something not to talk about. You can bond over the dorm life, the endless winter, and Parade Day. I as well had a pleasant experience with an alumni recently. Harpur Edge set up a lunch with an alumni last Friday that I had the pleasure of attending. The alumni had lunch with a group of ten students and provided me so much insight for my career. She actually double majored in what I am double majoring in and is now a very high-up executive official at the Department of Homeland Security. I cant tell you enough how much of a relief it was for me that someone who majored in what I majored in and didn't go to law school is now successful, it definitely made me stress less about my future and inspired me to look into different career goals. This event ties in exactly to your message: alumni time is as helpful and maybe even more helpful than alumni monetary donations.
I want to thank you again for bringing up that time is just as important as money when it comes to philanthropy, especially when it comes to Binghamton philanthropy. You have definitely led me to sign up for a Harpur Lace event!
Hi Celine,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on winning tweet of the week. I am glad I nominated you. I also think it's really awesome that you are only a sophomore and already so involved with the school. What you and the SPC do for the university is indispensable. To be honest what caught my eye in your article was the Osterhout Theatre. I didn't know that it was donated. You know this already, but I'm a TEDx organizer. We hold our annual event every year in the Osterhout Theatre and I never knew it was donated. I guess that is part of the reason I nominated you. I identified with one of the things donated and it compelled me to pick your tweet. We take the luxuries we have on campus for granted sometimes.
I do plan on donating, though I have specific idea that I wish to donate to, and I think once I begin that process, it will be a thrill.
On another note, I think we are all donating to the school in our way. Though I am not a scholar myself, some of you are, and that alone is aiding in helping the school rise in ranks. When students do well, then the school does well. I'd be hard pressed to find someone in our class that isn't involved in some outside the classroom activity. Whether it's organizing a hackathon or writing for the school paper. All of our efforts and contributions manifest into donations. There may not be a physical transaction or a tax deductible stub at the end of it, but without a student body to generate activity on campus. There would be no reason for alumni to donate. We are the ones that help shape our own experiences at this university, and of course the shaping is not done completely on our own, but a lot of it is contingent upon the choices we make. The choices we make, therefore shape the memories we have of this place and our desire to give back.
I know I will give back to Binghamton because it gave so much to me. The opportunities it offered and that I created for myself are numerous and my gratitude eternal. So thank you Celine and everyone for enriching my experience, and not to get political, but yes, even SFC is enriching my experience at Binghamton.
-Stephanie
Rock on Celine. If you've got something you love or are passionate about, and you can express that as well as you have, you have absolutely no reason to apologize for it. I happen to be a campus tour guide, so I know exactly how important rankings and alumni and such are, we hear it every day working in admissions.
ReplyDeleteFor a lot of people I think it's too easy to get stuck in this "I hate Sodexo, I only went here because it was cheap, our buildings all have Asbestos, I never leave campus, get me out of here" kind of attitude. I know I was one of those people at first. It is so easy to take for granted what an incredible institution and university we attend. I agree with everyone, there's a myriad of ways to "give back" to our school as current broke students or as wealthy alumni. The most important thing I think though is not to be afraid to show you care in the first place.
People make fun of the BU Zoo and student government and other such "school spirit" related things all too often, and not only to I really respect your audacity in expressing your love for Binghamton, but I appreciate the work you do and have done just from this blog post in working to break that horrible culture and ensure the future of our school. Keep it up because it's extraordinarily important.