Schell’s Brewery, Friendly Confines Cheese Shoppe, Dining Services, Jake’s Pizza, Reunion Giving and Annual Fund are all coming together to offer a free beer tasting and pizza party to the senior class. Students will sample five different Schell’s beers, enjoy pizza and learn about the senior class legacy.

Many colleges ask graduating seniors to pledge to give money back in the future, but Gustavus seniors have traditionally donated even before their graduation. The first traced gift was a geological collection and the tradition began in 1900. The senior class legacy has sometimes been a tangible gift, such as a pulpit for the chapel or water fountain in the campus center. More often, however, the legacy is in the form of a donation to the Gustavus Annual Fund.

“The Annual Fund is really important to current students. If we didn’t have the annual fund, tuition would probably be about $7,000 to $10,000 more,” Kathryn Erlandson, associate director of Reunion Giving, said. “It bridges the gap between what you pay and what it costs to run Gustavus. Eighty percent of the Annual Fund is given back to students for financial aid and scholarships.”

“The rest of the money goes to everything else that the college does. It’s a cover-all,” Kelsey Olson, assistant director of the Gustavus Annual Fund said.

Participation is something Erlandson and Olson stressed. Even if seniors can only contribute five dollars, they are encouraged to do so.

“We don’t expect big gifts the first ten years after graduation…but if you think you had a good education, why not participate?” Erlandson said.

Sixty percent of last year’s graduating class participated, a challenge to this year’s seniors. The class of ’62, during the year of their fiftieth reunion, has also challenged the class of ’12 to contribute as much as possible.

The beer tasting is the first of the senior class legacy events, and there are more to follow. The popular tunnel tours are scheduled for May 22, 2012, which will allow seniors who have already donated to the legacy to tour the tunnels underneath campus buildings that are normally off limits to students.

“We put the events on for the seniors, they should enjoy them,” Senior Political Science Major Jen Fox, a member of the senior class legacy event planning committee, said. “At the events, we will be enlightening ‘almost alumni’ about the fund and asking for seniors to register in the Alumni Fund’s records with their first donation.”

“There will be pizza and pop for those that aren’t interested in the beer and just want to socialize. They are welcome as well,” Erlandson said.

The event will take place Wednesday, Nov. 16 in the Jackson Campus Center banquet rooms. It begins at 7:00 p.m. and students must bring their Gustavus ID and state-issued ID.

Seniors can read more about the legacy at the website, www.gustavus.edu/classlegacy/2012.