An important part of Waynesburg University is the idea of leaving your fingerprint behind on campus. Senior early childhood education major, Jordyn Wyllie said this can be seen in the bricks of Miller Hall. That’s not the only way students can leave their fingerprint on campus.

Another way that seniors specifically leave their fingerprint behind is through a senior gift.

The committee for this year’s senior gift was made up of 12 to 13 seniors. David Floyd, manager of development and alumni relations, said these students were chosen by reaching out to different offices on campus and asking for their suggestions on seniors, that would be a good fit for the committee.

“We were really fortunate. We probably sent out an email to 15-16 students and we got 12 or 13 that wanted to be a part of it,” said Floyd. “…We’ve had a really good group and some good discussion when we got together for the meeting.”

The senior gift committee meeting took place Tuesday, Feb. 26. They discussed possible ideas and then voted, leaving two options to decide from.  Floyd said these options were a recycling initiative and a Roberts Chapel garden. Because both options received the same amount of votes, Floyd met with President Lee and Terry Sattler, director of facilities planning and management, to discuss which option would be better.

“[We] determined that one of them just wasn’t really feasible for the amount of money that we typically raise for the senior class gift,” Floyd said.

That option was the recycling initiative. Floyd said the proposed recycling initiative wasn’t a specific project, but one that would make a big impact on campus. The difficulty with finding a project that would meet these standards and the budget was one of the reasons no specific project was chosen.

“The reason that we went in a different direction was that it was hard to pinpoint one specific defined project, that we thought would make a really big impact,” Floyd said. “So, we ended up going with the Roberts Chapel garden.”

The idea for the garden was proposed by Jonah Cooper, Julie Sipes and Mary Beth Cocchi, all senior nursing majors, who are a part of the senior gift committee.

“Jonah first brought it up and me and Julie kind of talked it through with him. [Then] Julie suggested it at the meeting,” Cocchi said.

The gift idea entailed developing the area around the chapel. Cocchi said it would most specifically focus on the area near the bench on the back right side of the building.

“The place will be for reflection and have stones to remember past students. It will be like a garden area,” Cocchi said. “It would be good for students to have a place where they can go for peace and time to think.”

A huge part of the garden will be its use to remember students that have passed while at Waynesburg. The bench, where the garden will resonate around, already remembers a past student, but there will be engraved stones placed around it to remember other students that have also passed.

“The university has lost students over the years. In fact, the bench behind the chapel is dedicated to a student who passed the year before we were freshmen,” said Cocchi. “The bench deserves to have more attention to it and [the] building around that would be a really good start. So, if we begin the process now the [classes] succeeding us can choose to add to the project to keep the remembrance going.”

Wyllie is another member of the committee along with Cocchi, Cooper and Sipes. She personally knew one of the students that passed.

“There’s one student that I was close with that passed away while I was here…She passed away last April. So, I think that’s where a lot of the memorial garden idea stems from,” Wyllie said. “She was one of my close friends last year, so it was a difficult time. It would be a good place to have, so you can just go there and spend time in prayer.”

Floyd said they don’t know when the project will start, but he hopes it will start in the summer, so the seniors that come back for homecoming can see the finished project.

Unfortunately, the reality of western Pennsylvania and having graduation in early May makes that a little difficult,” he said.

Even though not every senior is involved in the planning of this gift, Wyllie said it is a way for the Class of 2019 to come together and give back to Waynesburg.

“As a senior, I think it’s important to leave a legacy behind,” Wyllie said. “After spending four years at the university there’s a lot that was given to us. So, as we depart I think it’s really important that we give back to the institution that gave so much to us.”

Fundraising for the senior gift is currently underway. Floyd said gifts have started to roll in, but more will be coming in the next couple of weeks.