Senior Gift Kickoff by Mitra L. '07

Tonight was the kickoff event for the Class of 2007 Senior Gift campaign

Our class’s theme is the “5.0 Challenge” — to achieve at least 50% participation in donating. Sadly, I don’t think our theme is as incredibly awesome as the theme for the Class of 2000 through the Class of 2005: The Fibonacci Challenge!!

The Fibonacci Challenge begins with a $10 gift senior year, with the payment schedule following the Fibonacci series. First year out of MIT: Another $10. Second year:$10 + $10 = $20. Third year: $10 + $20 = $30. Fourth year: $20 + $30 = $50. The 5.0 Challenge isn’t bad, though (thanks for thinking of it, Class of 2006). For those of you not familiar with MIT’s grading system, our GPAs are out of 5.0, not 4.0 like most other schools.

(This could be where my “inflation” reference comes into play — if you don’t adjust for inflation, these amounts sum to less than $100 — but wait, there’s more.)

“MIT Alumni Association President Martin Tang GM ’72 pledges to donate a generous sum of up to $25,000 toward our class project, but just how much he will give depends entirely upon our class participation. The more members of our class who give, the more Martin will give, so make your gift right away!”

It is pretty awesome to have the president of the Alumni Association serve as our alumni donor.

Below is the “grading scale” for how well our class will do on this “assignment.” I find this hilarious, since correlates strongly with the grading scale in many of my classes. Not much Ivy -style grade inflation here.

I voted for tshirt design B, with a simple athletic jersey style logo. Stay tuned for the exciting electoral results.

We had all sorts of “international food” since our class gift is going to establish a grant for students who want to study abroad. I’m not sure what the application details are, but at least the samosas were delicious.

Here I am with Nicole ’07 (Ryu from Street Fighter II, as chronicled by Sam ’07) and Bryan ’07 (Bryan ’07 from MIT, as chronicled by Bryan ’07)

When life gives you puddles, jump over them.