The Washburn Foundation will be handing out free shirts on January 29 and 30 for the upcoming Washburn versus Emporia State Men and Women’s basketball game on February 5^th. The free shirts are a part of the “150 Forward Campaign for Washburn University” spring campaign kickoff.

Each of the shirts will contain information of the 150 campaign. The shirts will be distributed across campus at; the Memorial Union, Mabee Library, Student Recreation and Wellness Center, the First Year Experience classes and at Washburn Tech as well.

As part of the spring launch for the campaign, the half time show will include a four minute presentation with brief remarks from Dr. Farley and Dr. JuliAnn Mazachek, president of the Washburn University Foundation.

Following the speakers, a student video about the 150 Forward Campaign will be shown. The video will display how the fundraising campaign will benefit the students.

“The biggest part for us is having the student participation and having them there in their t-shirts that actually display that maybe they begin to understand what the 150 Campaign is all about,” said Mazachek.

The 150 campaign is a fundraising campaign for Washburn University that raises money for scholarships, faculty and programs for the welcome center. It will be promoting the upcoming developments to the University campus which will include the renovation of Morgan Hall. The building will undergo changes to comply with the goal of creating a new welcome center at Washburn. The new welcome center will group offices like admissions and financial aid nearer and add new amenities as well.

“It will be a one-stop service center where students can get all of their questions answered at one place,” said Mazachek.  “There’s no place to study in Morgan. There are a number of new study places that will be a part of the project.”

The 150 Campaign will also fundraise for a completely new law school. The new law school will be located at the corner of 21^st Street and Washburn Avenue. It will be 153,000 square feet of space that will include new a new library and courtrooms.  The four year campaign hopes to raise $100 million by 2016.  So far, around $59 million has been raised. 

The intention of the event is to educate students about what the 150 Forward Campaign is. The fall portion of the campaign started in October and focused more on the Washburn alumni and community members. The basketball game will be the focus of the spring campaign. Additionally the Foundation wants to increase the student support for the Ichabod home games.

“We’re hoping to make students more aware of what we’re trying to do and to understand why it’s so important to them. Because really, students are the beneficiaries of the work we’re doing,” said Mazachek. “The plan of the future is to have regular events of the students for every semester.”

If a student wears their shirt at the basketball games the students will receive a coupon for a free bottled drink and an Ichadog.  Students also have a chance to win one of twenty $25 gift cards and a grand prize of a $150 gift card.