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More With Your Support Students preparing to take the world Visitors practice art of sharing     How you can help For more information or to order a piece of the Graffiti Wall, e-mail the Student Campaign Advancement Committee at ouproud@ohio.edu or call the Dean of Students Office at (740) 593-1800. A Web site, www.ohiou.edu/ouproud/, will be online soon.

By Sarah Welch Students have come up with some innovative ways to help out with the Bicentennial Campaign, and their peers on campus and alumni are among their prime audiences. The 15-member Student Campaign Advancement Committee is working to raise $100,000 by 2004 to help fund a new student center. Baker University Center was built in 1952, when enrollment was a quarter of the size of the current student body. Co-chaired by Amanda Cunningham and Alissa Galford, the group has been meeting weekly since fall 2000. Rick Harrison, Student Affairs' assistant dean for development, said students have never before been so engaged in one of the University's capital campaigns. "Student Affairs Advancement Committee member Leona Hughes, a 1930 gradute who has been involved in every campaign the University has conducted, said she thought it important to find ways to involve students in these efforts," Harrison notes. "From her suggestion, the Student Advancement Committee was born." A kickoff this past fall featured bands, raffles and entertainment, raising more than $2,500. Junior Michael Lee, a marketing major, was the big raffle winner, snagging free tuition for this quarter in one of the contests. The student campaign, Lee says, is "an excellent opportunity for students to show they care about what's going on and to give monetary resources as well as physical resources." Here are some plans formulated with alumni in mind: * Students are selling pieces of the University's former Graffiti Wall, which is being replaced as part of a renovation/addition project involving Bentley Hall. Pieces of the wall will be mounted on green tile and sold for a suggested minimum donation of $25 for students and $50 for alumni. A certificate of authenticity and brief history of the wall will accompany each piece. * Another project -- called "Show Us Your Bobcat!" -- involves 4-foot-tall "Bob the Bobcat" statues that are being sold to student organizations. The groups will take a page from the Cows of Chicago and Pigs of Cincinnati projects by decorating the 100 statues in different themes and auctioning them off at Homecoming this fall. * "Dollar Days" seeks to raise "$20,000 in 20 days from 20,000 of OU's proudest." The days will be observed throughout the year at times when spirit is at its peak, such as Homecoming Weekend. Shirts also are being sold with the committee's "OU proud!" logo. While reaching the $100,000 goal would be exciting, Cunningham says the lasting impression the campaign will leave with students is even more vital. "It's not just about money," she says. "The most important thing is raising awareness in students about philanthropy and giving back early on." Sarah Welch, BSJ '03, is a student writer for University Communications and Marketing.