Let Them Eat Cake
Sweet activities nourish the Badger spirit.
"If there's one thing I like as much as Bucky," says Michelle Harbin '07, "it's birthday cake."
On February 5, she received a helping of both her favorite treats, served up by WAA, right in her residence hall's dining facility. February 5 was Founders' Day, the annual celebration of the UW's creation — and a perfect opportunity to carry Badger pride forward for another generation. WAA taught current students to celebrate the university's birthday by giving out more than 2,000 slices of cake at dining halls across campus.
Though dieticians may cringe at the nutritional value of 2,000 pieces of cake, we at WAA know the power of pastry — in this case, it served to nourish the Badger spirit rather than the body. Through a plate of Founders' Day cake, we wanted to show students that, though their time on campus may be short, they'll be Badger alumni for the rest of their lives.
WAA staff and interns serve cake to students at Gordon Commons.
When WAA builds a strong Badger spirit, alumni become more involved — they read our publications, attend events, come back to campus, follow the UW online, and then join the association. And the interest that WAA members show in the university manifests itself in dollars and cents — according to the UW Foundation, more than half of the alumni WAA has engaged with since 2001 donated to the university, with an average gift of $4,320.
During the last year, WAA worked to nourish Badger spirit at all of its events, from Founders' Days at chapters around the country, to a Capital One Bowl tour, to the Flat Bucky program that encourages alumni to show their Badger pride by showing off their favorite mascot. And we're laying the foundation for more ambitious developments — keep watching in 2007–08 for a revamped Web site and a bigger, more Badger-y membership magazine.
That's a WAA Hookup!
In a new effort to reach out to students, WAA launched its Hookup campaign in fall 2006. Aiming to speak to students in new ways, the campaign included ads in the Daily Cardinal, the Badger Herald, the Onion, and on Facebook.com. WAA also employed a team of interns to run a viral marketing campaign aimed at increasing WAA's presence at campus events. As a result, hits on the WAA student Web page rose from 1,908 per month to 2,475, an increase of 30 percent.