Southern University is making history again by becoming the first Historically Black College and University to host the nationally known community service project called Up ‘til Dawn.
Up ‘til Dawn is a fund-raising program for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which raises money for research and study on juvenile cancer patients.
“It’s a good program. It’s helping to go towards sickle cell and cancer research,” said Simmie Johnson, a junior business management major from Bastrop.
Up ‘til Dawn consists of a group of six people, with each group being responsible for paying a registration fee of $30, $5 per person.
After the fees are paid, each participant will be issued a 50-name fast sheet, a form to write down names and addresses of anyone that would be able to sponsor money to send to St. Jude.
The project is aimed to get the entire campus involved. Registration for the program is located in room 230 of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.
The program has been going on at other universities including Louisiana State University and Colorado University, where it has been very successful.
A great number of other universities around the country also participate in the community service project.
“Dr. Downs was the one that picked Up ‘til Down and he felt that it would be a good community service project for Miss Southern and her Royal Court to do every year,” said Enitra Jones, Miss Southern.
Jones was happy with the decision as well because she had recently done an internship with St. Jude.
“Up ‘til Dawn is a great project. It’s a big honor to be a part of the project, being that this is the first HBCU be part of this,” said Alvin Woods, a senior mass communications major from Lake Charles.
Woods happens to also be the public relations chair for the Up ‘til Dawn Program.
“The daily hospital cost is a million dollars a day and the money that we are trying to raise will help with about a half of day’s work; it’s not much but it’s something and I’m glad we joined to help out the cause,” Johnson said.
The event is to be held on Feb. 14 11p.m.-3a.m. in the Cotillion Ballroom and at the end of the night Miss Southern and her Royal Court will present St. Jude with their earnings.
A letter-writing party will be held Oct. 5 in Stewart Lawless Hall from 7-9. At this time the name and addresses of the 50 people the fast sheet will be addressed personalized letters.
The night will be filled with food, fun, games and entertainment. Time is running out quickly and space is limited to 50 teams of 6 people per team. The final deadline for applications is Oct. 1.
