The Class of 2020 is well on their way to raising enough money to gift the college with 10 oak trees for the quad. Their partnership with local restaurants this week promises to bring them closer.
This week, a different restaurant is partnering with the college every day of the week to donate 10% of their proceeds to the 2020 Senior Class Gift.
Anyone involved with the college can participate with a punch card, provided by the seniors, by taking the card to each restaurant they eat out at and getting a unique punch at every stop. At the end of the week, they can drop off these punch cards at career services for a chance to win either an Amazon Echo, a Yeti mug, or a Hillsdale Swag Bag. The more restaurants they go to, the more chances they will have to win.
The restaurant schedule is as follows: Monday – Rosalie’s Roadhouse, Tuesday – Saucy Dogs, Wednesday – Pub & Grub, Thursday – El Cerrito, Friday – Hunt Club, Saturday – Finish Line.
Throughout the seniors’ time at Hillsdale, they’ve seen the quad with and without numerous oak trees, a staple to some students’ experience on campus. Fundraising Officer Lucy Meckler remembers the quad before every tree was taken down for the construction of the chapel.
“There were live oaks that were removed when the chapel was originally built,” Meckler said. “People were really passionate about it in our grade because we’ve seen campus post, during, and pre-chapel.”
Lizzie Leathers, Senior Class Treasurer, often found herself out in the quad when doing homework.
“When I was a freshman my favorite thing in the world to do was to walk into the quad and just find a comfy spot underneath a tree and read,” Leathers said. “Then the chapel came along so there were no more trees, and I just really want other people to have that experience because it was so special.”
Meckler said that the senior class wanted to bring the trees back to campus.
“We decided that a fun way to fundraise for it could have a Restaurant Week, where every day we partnered with a different business to give back, that way students could go out and have fun but also feel like they were contributing to the class gifts and help bring awareness about the gift more generally to those who may not be seniors,” Meckler said.
Not only are the students excited for the fundraiser, but the restaurants are as well.
“Most of the restaurants are pretty excited, willing, and love partnering with the college,” Meckler said. “I got a bunch of positive feedback about how grateful they were to live in the Hillsdale community.”
Meckler, Leathers, and all of campus will soon see the fruits of the seniors’ gift, some even before graduation.
“The cool thing is we get to see what exactly we’re contributing to right now,” Meckler said.
