Georgia Southern University’s Programming Board hosted an event to celebrate the college’s 113th birthday outside Russell Union on Dec. 2.

​

Free hotdogs with chips and soda, live music by DJ Nino, photo booths and games filled the celebration at the Statesboro campus’s rotunda. Cupcakes and ice cream from Savannah’s Leopold’s Ice Cream were also served to the students that came by.

​

The main sponsor of the event was Southern Philanthropy Council. The organization was in charge of planning the event. According to event organizer McKenzie Karlewicz, the preparation took months, starting in September.

​

“It was a lot of meetings with the people of Georgia Southern, making sure that this event was perfectly planned out to a tee,” Karlewicz, a sophomore biology major, said. “We had a game plan for any case of weather, obviously not wind.”

​

Trevon McCary-Glenn, another event organizer, said the event was made possible through alumni donations. “This event was to teach students the importance of giving back to Georgia Southern, what

donors do for the university,” McCary-Glenn said. He added that they bought enough food for 400 people.

 

Southern Philanthropy Council also had a booth where students could enter a raffle ticket to win a gift card with the University Bookstore. They invited students to take pictures with quirky props in their self-made photo booth after entering.

​

Another booth they set up was a ring-toss booth. Samantha Weikers, a junior who worked the booth, said students get a prize when they toss three rings into one bottle. “We celebrate Georgia Southern’s philanthropy” Weikers said about what their organization does.

​

Georgia Southern University, which began as an agricultural and mechanical school, was established in 1906. Since then, the college has grown to include 141 degree programs. The school’s most recent historical changes are their merger with Armstrong State University in Savannah and establishment of a satellite campus in Hinesville, Georgia.