Aurora University kicks off weeklong initiative based on generosity, positive action
Geomarco Grano of Sugar Grove, a freshman at Aurora University, stopped inside one of the buildings on campus Monday morning to inscribe a positive thought for others.
Grano joined dozens of others who wrote messages of positivity on a piece of fabric mounted inside the doors of the Institute for Collaboration on campus as part of a new initiative this week leading up to a Day of Generosity to be celebrated at the university on Friday.
'The initiative this year to promote something positive is a great thing to have on campus,' Grano said as he thought about what message he might leave for others. 'Spreading kindness to everybody and doing that through any means possible – whether it's kind words, gifts, words of affirmation – things that really carry a lot of meaning for people. Everyone is really excited about it, and the teachers are really promoting it to the students.'
Elise Phillipp of Yorkville, who is a junior, likewise elected to inscribe a message and said after being at the school for nearly three years, she was excited about the program she 'heard about a couple of weeks ago.'
'I saw it on emails and on Instagram and they (the school) were kind of marketing all of it,' she said. 'I think it's awesome. I think it takes a lot for a school to do something like this and show the students and faculty and staff that you can be generous and how much we mean to them and them to us.'
Officials at the university stressed that the week's activities leading up to the Day of Generosity will include a number of outreach events as well as those aimed at self-care and nurturing of students.
Tuesday was scheduled to feature decorating and packing bagged lunches for Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora, followed by Wellness Wednesday where students will be encouraged 'to take a break with relaxing activities focused on self-care, mindfulness and well-being.'
Outreach continues on Thursday as the one-hour Cups and Comfort event is set to be held at the University Banquet Hall as students will be served coffee or lemonade while assembling blankets that will be donated to World Relief and Oaken Acres Wildlife Center.
Friday's culminating events are to include a Day of Generosity breakfast held from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. as well as an Arts and Crafts Pop-Up Art Cafe that will be held from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Hill Welcome Center on campus.
Jen Buckley, who is currently serving as interim president of advancement at the university, said the impetus behind the initiative is about 'having a week that's focused on how we support our students within our community.'
'Some institutions call this a Day of Giving but we really wanted to focus it around generosity and what generosity means to us as a university community. It's providing opportunities and coming together to help one another,' Buckley said. 'It also creates service opportunities that build on who we are as an institution and our mission. It's about not only serving our community and talking about what generosity means, but also putting it into action.'
Donation notifications were sent out to alumni as well as the community, Buckley said, advising them about a 24-hour event that begins on Thursday 'where we are going to solicit gifts where people can give donations to help our students and scholarships and campus improvements.'
Buckley said the events this week are not the product of some recent discussion but rather something that was planned months ago as part of the university's strategic plan.
'We wanted to see what our baseline participation is for something like this, and also create an opportunity to build on this in the future,' she said. 'We have a brand-new strategic plan that we rolled out in August called A-Unity – fulfilling our promise. Once we rolled that out, this was within our strategic plan and it's literally fulfilling our promise to our institution as well as our students.'
Upon reflection, Grano explained what he planned to write as a message to others.
'My motto is 'All it takes is all you got' and putting that into action – give everything you can and that's going to be enough,' he said.
Kieran Donovan of Wilmette, who is also a freshman, predicted the week's activities 'would definitely have an impact' as he finished writing a positive message for others as part of Monday's event.
'It may not be a physical impact, but it's definitely going to be there mentally,' he said. 'For people to come and walk up and write something, that will be more impactful. Someone coming up and reading these messages, they'll see how supportive the community around them is.'
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