Story co-written with Rachel Lepine
February at WCU is the month of giving and showing love to the campus through the “I Love WCU” celebration. For six years this love was shown through campaigns, card writing, and competitions among students featuring the best social media post or video on why they love WCU.
We ask students what they love at WCU …
and what we can do better.
I Love WCU is a month-long celebration of the annual donations to the school. This is done through events and partnerships held around the school.
Students we talked to were concerned about what the money could go towards. Numerous anonymous sources talked about a variety of concerns. They listed issues like housing, parking, dining services, and discrimination against minorities. Students are also concerned about their ability to stay enrolled due to raised fees in housing, meal plans, and athletics.
“This year an I Love WCU celebration event was held on Valentine’s Day, which had more than 250 people attending,” said Andrew Schmidt, former director of Annual Giving.
James Hogan, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Engagement said that to goal of the month is to rally students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community around “those shared experiences that make WCU so meaningful to us all.”
The donations support many things on campus.
“Our team works with thousands of donors supporting many philanthropic areas, including scholarships, academics, faculty, research, athletics, and other ways of promoting student success and excellence,” Hogan said.
According to Schimdt they have raised “almost $950,000, which is about 80% of our goal.” The end goal is around $1.2 million.
