Blue Hen pride
Students celebrate, show gratitude as part of inaugural I Heart UD Day
1:35 p.m., May 26, 2015--Pride is a personal experience.
It can stem from teamwork on a group project, a late-night discovery made in a lab or a goal scored in the final seconds of a game. But there are times when that high-five, that fist pump, that inner “yes!” just isn’t enough.
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Sometimes, a sense of pride is so overwhelming it needs to be shared with the world.
As University of Delaware students participated in the inaugural I Heart UD Day on The Green, Blue Hen pride was shared through gratitude.
Students wrote over 2,000 thank you notes to some of the University’s biggest supporters, including donors and volunteers who have made UD’s success a priority by giving back.
“Homecoming is a big event in the fall to show spirit, but we didn’t have anything in the spring,” said Class of 2016 student Maggie Dolan. “So this is the perfect motivator for finals week and the end of the semester.”
An estimated 1,000 students packed the tent throughout the day, making keepsake memories in the photo booth, picking up UD-branded decals and tech tattoos, eating free Insomnia cookies, participating in yoga on The Green, signing their class banner and working through checking off items on the #UDBucketList.
Planned in part by the UD Alumni Association (UDAA), Student Alumni Ambassadors (SAA), Senior Class Gift, the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, and Communications and Public Affairs, the purpose of the event was to promote pride in the University and give students a chance to show their appreciation for their UD experience.
One alumna and UDAA board member, Denise DiSabatino-Allen, a member of the Class of 1982 who volunteered at the event, stressed the importance of communicating the idea of Blue Hen pride.
“The UDAA wanted to recognize all the students at the University of Delaware, and show them how proud we are that they’re here and on the path to graduation,” Allen said. “The hope is that the Blue Hen pride these students have today will carry over into the future, when they are alumni.”
Beginning at 7 a.m., social media interns from Communications and Public Affairs began placing I Heart UD flags on The Green in an effort to build buzz early in the day. At 9 a.m. avatars on all branded social media channels switched to the I Heart UD logo. Instagrams, Tweets, Vines and Facebook posts from attendees, alumni and more than 60 Social Media Ambassadors were shared using #BlueHensForever.
Members of the “Surprise and Delight Squad” fanned out throughout campus equipped with GoPros and selfie sticks delivering gift bags filled with hand-written thank you notes, UD-branded tech tattoos, retractable ear buds and other goodies to unsuspecting Blue Hens. Special guest appearances from President Patrick Harker, YoUDee and more were captured in the video above.
While this year the event was only for a day, the SAAs hope to make the event a weeklong event that will engage more students and alumni. Clare Lehnus, vice president of programing with the SAAs, hopes to make the vision of a longer I Heart UD event a reality in the future.
“This year it’s only today, but we would love to make it an annual weeklong event,” Lehnus said. “I’ve enjoyed talking to people and encouraging other students to express their pride for UD, and I hope to be able to do that more next year through this event.”
About the UD Office of Development and Alumni Relations
The Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) engages donors, alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff and students in a lifelong relationship and fosters a tradition of philanthropy to strengthen the University of Delaware’s legacy as one of the great public institutions of higher education in America.
For more information about DAR, visit the website or call 302-831-2341.
Photos by Doug Baker