The Daily O’Collegian

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Students wanting to support OSU scholarship endowments can buy $10 T-shirts from the OSU Student Foundation this week. T-shirts are available in the Student Union Student Store and outside the bookstore.

Students can help provide scholarships to future Cowboys simply by buying a T-shirt.

The OSU Student Foundation began their “Cowboy Spirit” campaign. The goal of the “by the students, for the students” fundraiser is to create an endowed scholarship for OSU students.

“We all know the importance of student scholarships, so the student foundation just wanted a way to help students get more involved in scholarship opportunities for other students,” said Michal Shaw, director of scholarships and donor relations at the OSU Foundation.

To raise money for the campaign, the student foundation is selling white T-shirts with the Spirit Rider printed on them for $10. All proceeds from the T-shirt sales will go to a scholarship endowment to assist students with financial need.

If enough money is raised, the foundation will give out the first of these scholarships this fall, Shaw said.

The student foundation is encouraging every student who buys a shirt to wear it on Friday to “white out” the campus. Student foundation members will pass out free soda and popcorn to students wearing the T-shirts on campus Friday.

Caroline Diedrich, campus promotions chairwoman for the student foundation, said they wanted everyone to wear the shirts on the same day to promote awareness of the student foundation and what it is doing.

“We just wanted to create a sense of pride and unity among students, and that by getting them all together and doing an event like this, and just showing that even with a small donation like that, $10 — that’s something that a lot of students can afford,” she said. “Something that small, if everybody comes together, can make a huge difference.”

Diedrich said the student foundation decided to do the campaign after looking at other universities’ student foundations and seeing what they are doing.

Baylor’s student foundation has existed for about 30 years and has given about $4 million to about 5,000 students in that time, she said.

“So just knowing that we can do that eventually, if we get this started this year, was a big inspiration for us,” she said.

Shaw said the foundation will endow the money raised for the scholarship, which means the amount available for scholarship will only get bigger.

Endowing the funds also means the scholarship will never cease to exist. The principal amount from the proceeds will always be there, so the foundation will award the interest from that amount each year, Shaw said.

Shaw said she hopes the campaign will help students learn about the importance and impact of charitable giving and that the foundation will continue to hold the campaign annually.

“Because it is a ‘by the student, for the student’ program, it allows students to learn about scholarships from a new perspective,” she said. “You know, the consequent development of interest and understanding will hopefully encourage more students to apply for scholarships and become involved with other charitable programs on campus.”

Marge Fraser, nutrition sciences junior and member of the student foundation, said she thinks the campaign is going well.

“I think, for our first year, we’ve made a lot of headway, and we’re all excited about it because it’s going to such a great cause,” she said.

The Cowboy Spirit T-shirts are on sale in the Student Union Student Store. Student Foundation members will also sell them at a booth outside the Student Union Bookstore. Students can also buy the shirts online at http://www.osustudentfoundation.com.

The T-shirts will be on sale through Friday. Shaw recommends students buy one by Thursday, however, so they can wear them to “white out” campus on Friday.