Fulton Challenge

On October 31 the UVSC student body met their goal of raising $24,000 for the Fulton Challenge – nearly seven weeks ahead of schedule. Student body President Andrew Stone, behavioral science major from Dixon, Calif., and his officers set the lofty goal at the beginning of fall semester, answering multimillionaires Ira and Mary Lou Fulton’s challenge to the College to set and meet fundraising goals by the end of the year, with the guarantee that they would match every goal met, dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000 per person.

Stone said when he told the Fultons the students would raise $24,000 before January, they were skeptical. “Ira gave us $12,000 as a second goal,” Stone said. “He had never seen students raise that much. To us raising one dollar from every student didn’t seem like a lot,” Stone said. “I think students understood it’s only sacrificing one taco.”

Stone and his officers rallied together to motivate students, jump-starting donations by giving $3,400 between the 29 members of the council, including a $200 donation per person from all five members of the executive council.

Mark Millet, an integrated studies major (communications and psychology) from West Jordan, Utah, and assistant to Stone, headed up the student fundraising effort on campus. Millet could be found at the designated fundraising table in the hall twice a week, every week, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. “It was really exciting to see our efforts pay off and students jump on board. The UVSC student body alone has donated $19,000 of the $24,000 so far,” he said. “We’ve not only reached our goal, but done it in half the time we were given.”

But petitioning in the halls wasn’t the only tactic officers employed. UV Mentor Liason Jeff Engh, a communications major from South Jordan, Utah, said his favorite method was the parking lot approach. “We did it in the morning; we’d meet them at their cars” Engh said. “Students had nowhere else to go so we could tell them about the cause and they would dump the change out of their ash trays.” Engh, who leads a team of 33 UV mentors who volunteer in student success courses, also helped mentors raise $3,600 in their classes. Engh said when students heard the money would go towards university status and the new library they jumped at the opportunity to pitch in.

The officers’ final push brought in the remaining $7,000 to reach the goal– all in one night. Katie Anderson, a business management major from Sandy, Utah, and assistant to student life vice president, said the students needed $4,000 more to meet their weekly goal, so they started getting creative. “We had the Halloween dance coming up, which is a huge event at UVSC. People wait in line for an hour and a half in the freezing cold to get in, so I suggested the ‘fast pass’ idea,” she said. “Basically, students who wanted to go through the fast pass line could pay an extra $5 to get right into the dance and skip the line. The extra $5 would go to the Fulton Challenge.” Seven-hundred students went through the fast pass line, giving the student body enough money to reach their goal.

"We always had faith in the students, we just didn’t know it would happen so quickly,” Anderson said. “UVSC is so student-oriented and the students are so involved and supportive. That’s not something that’s easy to come by on other campuses.”