The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
This year’s Apple Day and Giving Day both fell on the kick off for PSU’s seventh annual Thank-A-Gorilla (T.A.G) Week. T.A.G. Week is a chance to appreciate the alumni and other donors of the university.
“I think that this week is all about being grateful that we have such a sense of community here that people want to continue to give once they are gone,” said Blair James, senior. “We may be a small university, but we make a big impact, and that makes people want to continue being a part of it even when their time as a student comes to an end.”
During this week each year students are given the chance to “tag” the things given to the university through alumni or other donors. This gives students the opportunity to see the things that were given out of generosity that they may not have realized without the tags.
The week kicks off with the second annual Giving Day. Donuts were passed out on campus for students to promote the start of the week. Giving Day is also a call for people to give back to the university and to bring the generosity of the community into the spotlight.
“I think that passing out donuts was a great way to get the word out about this week,” said Devan Thomas, senior. “College students always respond to free food, but I also know that I wanted to know why I was being given this free food. It definitely caught my attention.”
This year started a new tradition for T.A.G Week by introducing social media into the week. On Tuesday, students were invited to take a picture with the tagged items on campus and share to Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag “#PSUTAG”. It also introduced the idea of “tagging” your friends as a way to keep the tag going throughout the day and spread the word.
“I think introducing social media into this week is a great idea,” James said. “Obviously that is how most people are used to getting their information now, so if you weren’t aware of the events this week, that is probably the first place you would notice that something’s going on.”
On Wednesday, students were encouraged to keep the social media tagging up using the same hashtag. Anyone that posted using “PSUTAG” was entered into a drawing for this year’s PSU Spring Break t-shirt.
“Making a competition of sorts out of anything is a great way to get more college students involved,” Thomas said. “Just like with free food, college students are always up for a free t-shirt, so including the drawing was super smart and I think it probably encouraged people to want to participate more and maybe got them more excited about what this week is truly about.”
Thursday, the final day of T.A.G Week 2019 invites students to meet in the Oval and play a nostalgic game of tag and enjoy more free food in the form of pizza. Students can keep a look out for the bright yellow tags on campus to see what students chose to appreciate this year, and also look at the social media tags.
“Hopefully this tradition will only continue to grow,” James said. “I think it’s always important to appreciate the things we receive as a community from our members. I definitely think the new aspects of the week introduced this year will only spread the word more and more and I look forward to seeing students participating in years to come.”