The class of 2009 reached an all-time high participation rate in donations to the Senior Gift fund this year, 93 percent. By the end of the fundraising efforts, the Senior Gift will total about $10,000, according to Deborah Murphy, Director of Alumni Affairs. The money raised by the Senior Gift fund will help to fund the renovations of Commons. A plaque in the class of 2009’s honor will also decorate the lobby of Commons. The success of this year’s Senior Gift fund has been attributed mainly to the new Student Alumni Representative (STAR) program, established this year by Murphy. The program consists of 19 Seniors, 12 of whom served as leaders in the fundraising effort. Krystle Manuel-Countee ’09, a Senior Gift captain, said, “I think the STAR program worked very well. It was much more effective in terms of knowing who had donated and who had not donated yet. It was much easier to manage the Senior class.” Six pairs of STARs led groups of 55 Seniors in the effort to reach 100 percent participation. “I think especially with the people who were on the STARs board, they were people who knew a lot of other people, and so being in teams like that made it an easy way to get a lot of money,” said Malik Jenkins ’09, a Senior Gift captain. “Dividing it up into teams added a competitive edge,” said Kenny Gould ’09, also a Senior Gift captain. “[The class of 2009 was] competing against other classes, not just ourselves, so we now get bragging rights.” In recent years, Exeter’s class participation in its Senior gift fund has reached 100 percent, according to the Exeter website. In 2007, for example, Exeter’s class of 2007 donated two solar panels for campus housing, with 100 percent Senior participation. Malin Adams ’09, School President and a Senior Gift captain said, “I think it’s great that Exeter gets 100 percent every year, but I don’t think it means 100 percent of kids are passionate about the school and want to donate every year.” “I think that’s the best feeling to know what our legacy is,” he continued. “We’re a class that was seen as not spirited in our time here because we didn’t yell the loudest.” “Yet spirit is not really determined by how loud you yell. It’s determined by how much you want to give back to the school and how much the Andover experience meant to you, and I think it’s clear from these percentages that the Andover experience has meant a lot to us,” said Adams. Murphy said, “I think [the STARs] were very successful because of their enthusiasm. This group of kids actually coming together and organizing [Seniors] into these color teams was really fun for them. “They were enthusiastic, they were competitive, in a friendly way, and very spirited about it. I think the color competition between the teams and also the goal of beating the class of 2005 was really important for them,” she continued. Murphy said, “I call on [the STARs] when we have alumni coming to campus for special dinners, when we have a registration for an alumni weekend,” and compared it to the Admissions Office’s Student Ambassador Board. STARs also plan Senior class events. Adams said, “The STAR program has done a really good job of bringing groups of Seniors together and trying to come up with ideas to better the Senior class and try to smooth that transition between Senior year and college.” He added, “I think that the group of kids that we’ve had have all been really passionate, and I think that’s why we had such a high participation rate, because the kids really want to see the class do well.” “They really want their class of 2009 to stand out and not just be another class in the halls of Andover history,” he added. Adams said that the incentives, such as raffled Celtics and Red Sox tickets provided by alumni, motivated Seniors to donate. Because the class of 2009 set the new record for Senior gift fund participation, they will be featured in the summer issue of “The Andover Bulletin,” according to Murphy. She added, “This has been very inspiring to a lot of alumni who have used this as an example of how [fundraising] can be done.”
