May 2002
Seniors Create a Mosaic of Memories
Photos Capture the Spirit of 2002 Class
GW’s Class of 2002 will present President
Trachtenberg with a particularly individualized piece of artwork during
the Senior Toast May 14 — a photo mosaic from the 2001–02
academic year in the form of the Rembrandt Peale portrait of George
Washington.
The idea for the mosaic, composed of nearly 1,600 images submitted by
members of the senior class, came about during one of the early senior
class gift committee meetings last summer. Past classes presented gifts
such as a pair of English-style phone booths, a cherry tree, and furniture
for Gelman Library. While most agreed that the previous class gifts
were good, this year students aimed for something a little more inspiring.
“Those gifts were very impersonal, and not many people showed up
for the ceremony,” says Theresa Saccardi, president of the class
council. “We wanted to have something that everybody could contribute
to that didn’t involve money.”
The project got off the ground late last summer with a Listserv announcement
to seniors. Right away the idea began generating support.
“Everyone thought it was a great idea,” recalls Joe Bondi,
class gift coordinator. “I did a little research into it, and when
we started talking to the rest of the seniors about the idea, people
were getting really excited. The testament is the response that we’ve
gotten.”
Each year the senior class gift committee is selected by the gift coordinator,
a part-time position working out of the development office and reporting
to the director of annual giving. According to Bondi, many of the class
council members also are on the committee, but the goal is always to
build a wide representation of each year’s seniors. The committee
then names its own leadership, selects a gift idea, and starts raising
money to fund the gift.
“There has been a new sense of involvement,” says Bondi. “We’ve
also noticed that we’ve had more participation at our senior class
events this year than we’ve had in any year previous,” Bondi
continues. “We can’t really chalk it up to advertising, because
we’ve done that in the past, but maybe it’s a new sense of
involvement that these seniors have. That’s fantastic news for
the University. People are really excited about this project.”
The mosaic was produced by the Canadian firm Magic Mosaics. The original
image is fed into a software application to create a template by dividing
the image into color-coded vector shapes. The software then runs through
the library of snapshots provided, picking those that most closely match
the template in terms of tone, shape, and depth. Finally, the image
is fine tuned through digital enhancements to sharpen the colors and
tonal density.
“It’s really an amazing thing,” exclaims Bondi.
So far the committee has collected about $3,500 of its $6,000, however,
with more than $8,000 in commitments, the final tally is expected to
exceed their goal. Bondi adds the level of students pledging to contribute
to the gift is greater than in years past. All of the gifts are due
at the end of the fiscal year, June 30.
“The average gift is about $25,” says Bondi. “We have
had one person who pledged, and fulfilled that pledge, for a $1,000
gift.”
The project aims to get seniors involved in the University so that when
they graduate they will be more involved as alumni.
“We try to send them off, just the way Colonial Inauguration greets
them, in an upscale fashion,” explains Bondi, “with great
events that they can look back on fondly.”
The photos collected also will be used for a slide show and will be
given out to all the seniors on a CD ROM. The slide show will be shown
Grad Week, before the movie at the Cinema Draft House. Poster copies
also will be produced for sale to seniors.
“The senior gift is not so far removed anymore,” says Saccardi.
“It’s really exciting in the scheme of things.”
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
