Big Red Recognizes Donors

Lawrenceville’s second annual Tuition Runs Out Day (TROD) took place last Friday, February 17. Some Lawrentians may remember the Donor Day celebration last year. This year, organizers decided to change the name to TROD to “really drive home the message that tuition only covers about 65% of the cost to educate a student and the importance of the alumni, parents, and friends that support the School annually to make up the 35%,” says Lawrenceville’s Associate Director of Alumni Relations, Courtney Hodock. The 17th represented the exact day when the tuition money we pay runs out and the donor money generously given to the school from alumni and benefactors kicks in.

TROD is meant to not only bring the community together but to also remind us of the exceptional opportunities we are presented with at Lawrenceville. First and foremost, TROD gives the students the chance to thank those who have given us these opportunities. It also helps bring awareness to students and faculty alike that “gifts to the school are helping to subsidize the School… and that the cost of tuition doesn’t come close to reflecting the true cost to educate a student,” adds Hodock. Overall, TROD reflects a greater and “long standing tradition of giving back to Lawrenceville.”

This year the celebration of TROD lasted throughout the day. With a complete red-out and school-wide “thank you” at school meeting to the “Guess that Donor” game at lunch, Lawrentians had ample occasions to show their gratitude. There was also live cameras set up in both Irwin and Abbott where students could send live thank you messages to donors that were broadcasted via the school website, email, Facebook and twitter. There were also multiple signs posted all over campus with cost estimations of various things on campus such as dessert in Irwin, utilities and total tuition cost. Students were then given the challenge to guess whether the written amounts were too high or low compared to the actual costs. These games and activities made TROD a valuable day for donors as well as an interesting and engaging day for students. “We want the event to be fun and engaging for students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents,” Hodock comments.

Next year, the Alumni Office hopes to work with the Student Council to make TROD an even bigger and better event that is truly community wide.

- Tresa Joseph ’14

Posted by admin on February 25, 2012. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry