The Department of Student Activities received a letter Wednesday from Preni, a fifth grader in California, asking for information on Texas for a school project. Student Activities posted online and asked for donations – and received responses in the form of anything from a copy of Aggie Bound, A&M’s prospective student guide, to T-shirts, pencils and a cadet bider.
Cami Steele, social media and marketing intern for student activities, is in charge of collecting and organizing all of the information and donations. Steele said when she posted the information on social media sites, she didn’t expect the kind of reaction she received.
“I started receiving things the next day [Thursday],” Steele said. “I don’t work on Friday, so I came in this morning to a stack of things on my desk. Now I feel like I’m playing bridesmaid because I’m writing out everything we’ve received and where it came from.”
Daisy Enggina, communication coordinator for the department of student activities, said this was the first time shehad seen something like this. She said the department’s next step is to pack everything up and send it to California.
“We first are going to send a letter to the parents or guardians letting them know that a big box is coming,” Enggina said. “We know we still have some things coming into College Station, so Friday is probably when we’ll send everything. The deadline for [Preni’s] project is the end of March, so we don’t want to send it too late.”
The letter will request that the parents take some pictures of Preni with the donations. Even if the University does not receive photographs, Steele said she is proud her post received such
positive feedback.
“It feels pretty good,” Steele said. “I remember doing this project in school and I never got this kind of feedback. It’s cool to think I was in her shoes once and now we can send it off and be able to help someone.”
Junior university studies major Donald Ashburn, who sent a picture of the Corps forming the block T on Kyle Field, a Corps bider, Corps brass and RV brass, said he was interested in donating items because he knew he had certain resources other
students don’t.
“I think often we claim to be ‘the most friendly university in the world’ because of our spirit to help a buddy out and traditions like saying ‘Howdy,’ but this was just another act to back up the way we already talk,” Ashburn said. “It really shows that we practice what we preach and shows we truly are one of the most, if not the most, friendly and helpful campus in the world.