Date:
9/7/2011
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 575.562.2253
PORTALES--This summer executive director Kaylee Peterson and entertainment chairperson Jhordan Granger, students at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, flew to Memphis, Tenn., to attend the St. Jude Up ‘Til Dawn Student Collegiate Leadership Conference 2011.
Up 'Til Dawn, to be held on Oct. 21 in the Campus Union Ballroom, is a student-led, student-run, philanthropic program hosted by colleges and universities nationwide to raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
A group of students educate the student body on St. Jude and recruit teams of six to eight to participate in Up 'Til Dawn. Teams fundraise through various side events and then come together to celebrate their accomplishments at the Up 'Til Dawn celebration event.
Students sacrifice a night of sleep at the event in honor of the patients and their families that have many sleepless nights at the hospital. Students write letters to their friends and family on the night of the event asking them to participate in the St. Jude’s family and help unite to fight against childhood cancer. This year each participant is expected to provide 15 addresses for donation request letters. Up ‘Til Dawn provides the envelopes and stamps.
ENMU had their first Up ‘Til Dawn event last fall. At this event, there were over 300 students and raised over $11,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“We would also like to see the amount raised doubled from last year, as well as the number of students and faculty and staff,” said Peterson.
While Peterson and Granger were in Memphis they learned a lot of valuable information on how to improve Eastern’s Up ‘Til Dawn program. They met many new people and were able to share ideas back and forth.
They were also able to take a private tour along with the other recipients to Graceland to learn about Elvis and have a catered dinner.
At an award brunch on the last day of the conference, ENMU received “Rookie of the Year.” This award recognizes the most outstanding first-year Up ‘Til Dawn school in terms of developing and implementing a well-rounded program.
“This is an amazing honor for ENMU to receive and the board this year plans to keep the tradition alive of showing St. Jude what ENMU can do for their hospital,” said Peterson.
For more information, call 575.562.2108 or email Kaylee Peterson at Kaylee.Peterson@enmu.edu.