Our Interview with Student Leadership Award Winner, Up ’til Dawn at Keuka

The Jenzabar Foundation also spoke with Darla Sucy, Chair of the Up ‘til Dawn Program at Keuka College. The Up ‘til Dawn Program at Keuka, another one of The Jenzabar Foundation’s Student Leadership Award winners, raised a tremendous amount of money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this past year.

Read on to learn more about how the program began, how it exceeded its fundraising goals and what it has planned for the upcoming school year.

The Jenzabar Foundation: Can you tell us how the Up ‘til Dawn program began at Keuka College this past year?

When the Student Activities Director at Keuka, Jennifer Furner, found out about the Up ‘til Dawn program, she immediately thought that it would be a perfect fit for our school. A handful of student leaders, many of us who knew little-to-nothing about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, were encouraged to be on the Executive Board. I can clearly remember the first meeting that we had- we went around the group and everyone said why they were interested in becoming involved. It was then that we found out that the majority of us had a personal connection to cancer patients. Personally, I had a good friend from childhood who I watched fight melanoma for years. After this session of sharing, we all were pretty fired up and ready to help St. Jude’s fight childhood cancer and other diseases. That’s all it took for us to get started.

TJF: Also, could you let us know what your specific role within the organization is?

I am the Team Chairperson on the Executive Board of Up ‘til Dawn at Keuka. I held this position last year and will continue to for the upcoming school year. My role is to encourage students and faculty to get involved in our major events each year through personal electronic invites as well as through word of mouth around campus.

TJF: The Up ‘til Dawn organization at Keuka College exceeded its $10,000 goal this year, raising $13,355 for St. Jude’s Research Hospital. This was more money than any other first year program and matched or exceeded funds raised by more established Up ‘til Dawn programs. What do you believe was the most significant contributing factor to your organization’s incredible success and do you have any new ideas for fundraising in 2010?

When I am asked what made Up ‘til Dawn so successful in its first year at Keuka, I can quickly and confidently answer: the Keuka community itself. We are a school that has strong foundations in community service. Many students, like myself, are willing to step up and become leaders for various causes and organizations, all while balancing our academic commitments. Simply encouraging others to join our fight against cancer and help us in our effort to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude’s proved to be an effective strategy for our first year.

In the 2009-2010 academic year we will be hosting some of the same events that we did in our start up year, as well as trying to incorporate some new ideas for fundraising. The letter writing campaign, car wash, charity bingo and pool movies all were successful this past year. We are also considering adding a chicken barbeque and pizza sales to get people involved in supporting our fundraising efforts.

TJF: I noticed that the Up ‘til Dawn program at Keuka has a Facebook group. What impact has this social media outlet had in helping to promote the organization, recruit students and raise awareness?

Social media, and Facebook in particular, has helped us greatly. Our Facebook page provides general information about the group, as well as a place for us to post updates on our fundraising goals. Also, when I posted a new Keuka event on Facebook, I was able to generate 20-30 responses in less than 10 minutes. We also made use of our college message board and email system to send out event notifications as well as biographies of children at St. Jude’s.

TJF: Finally, how do you plan to use the $5,000 Jenzabar Foundation Student Leadership Award?

We donated half of the $5,000 award to St. Jude’s Hospital. A portion of the award also helped to send two of our Executive Board members to Memphis, Tennessee to attend the Collegiate Leadership Seminar. The remainder of the award will help us with our fundraising and awareness events in the upcoming academic year.