To see photos from the event, click here.
While most Siena students were packing their bags and filling their cars to return to campus for the spring semester, a record 235 seniors were “adding a night to senior year” by returning a day early on January 15 for the 8th Annual Senior Gift Kickoff Party.
Prior to this year’s event, the highest attendance had been 163 in 2015. To accommodate the record-breaking numbers, the Kickoff Party, usually in Casey’s, was expanded to incorporate the McMahon Atrium and a section of the Maloney Great Room. Clad in cocktail attire, the seniors saw the Sarazen Student Union transformed into a flowing cocktail party complete with a professional photographer, music, and raffle prizes.
The Kickoff Party, hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations and planned by the Senior Gift Committee, gave seniors a unique start to their eighth and final semester of their undergraduate career. With the intention of uniting the senior class, as well as raising money, 30% of the Class of 2017 has already banded together to donate to their Class Gift.
“The Kickoff Party brought the Senior Class together to kick-start our last semester and to remind us of the great people we’ve spent our time at Siena with,” said Monica Maxino ’17. “What’s a better way to say goodbye to Siena than with the Senior Gift?”
Maxino volunteered to be a member of the Senior Gift Committee this year. Joining 35 of her classmates (also a record), the Senior Gift Committee voted in October to select a project that they thought their class would identify with the most. This year, the Class of 2017 Senior Gift will be used to establish an endowed fund to support the Senior Week Champagne Toast Reception for decades to come. Since its inception in 2012, the Champagne Toast Reception has become an incredible tradition where graduating seniors are welcomed as the newest alumni of Siena College. Sponsored by the President's Office and the Office of Alumni Relations, this event, held at Serra Manor, caps off Senior Week and helps bridge the gap between student and alumni life.
“Donating to the Senior Gift was a no-brainer for me,” stated Gift Committee member, Rebecca Sullivan ’17. “Siena has given me everything I could have asked for, and more, over the past few years; so giving back during our last semester was something I always knew that I wanted to do. Kicking off the semester on a positive note was the perfect way to do it!”
Anthony Pelliccia ’17 added that, “having everyone together in one place was both incredible and loads of fun!”
Beyond having fun, the Class of 2017 has already surpassed their original fundraising goal of $12,000. The Kickoff Party boosted their campaign total to over $12,900, a number that no other senior class has reached prior to the month of April.
“Donating to the Senior Gift is a way to give back to the College after it has given us so much in four years,” said Brandon Murphy ’17, who had proposed an internal goal of raising $17,000 for 2017 in the first Senior Gift Committee meeting. Following the response from their class at Sunday’s event, the Senior Gift Committee voted to make $17,000 their true goal; a number which they are already 75% of the way to reaching.
To find out more information about the Class of 2017 Senior Gift, or to contribute, please visit www.siena.edu/seniorgift.
