gradNEWS

The Pink Tie Pledge

Hello one and all. It's that time of year again (no, not that time... the other time). That's right, it's time to start what we in the MGC like to call "The Pink Tie Pledge". Now there will be those of you reading this thinking "Yeah, sure, I haven't worn that pink tie in a while. I may as well recycle it by giving it back to the MGC". I'm afraid that's not quite what this pledge drive is about.

Instead, we're looking for you, namely the graduating students, to give something back to the community that has been your home and/or place of incarceration for the past n years, where n = {3, 4, 5, or more}. Now one may surmise that money from the pink tie pledge funnels back into the Mathematics Faculty, and, in a way, it does. In another more important way, it doesn't. In fact, you can decide how your pledge is utilized by picking one of four or more categories to put the money into.

So where does the money go? Well, you can ask it to be given to MEF, which has helped in the past to fund students in all sorts of endeavors. With a growing bank account, they can continue to offer up "moolah" for worthy student projects in the future.

Remember those first few terms of math, struggling over derivatives, matrices, and proofs? Well, another alternative for your pledge is to put it towards funding the Math Tutorial Centre where it can be used on improvements like helping more students pass those math classes, spiffing up the tutorial centers or hiring more tutors.

Find you were having trouble paying off the last few terms? Not enough spending cash? The MGC puts up a $1500 dollars each year for students entering their last year of school. They provide up to 3 awards of $500 each and your money can be put towards keeping this wonderful scholarship alive.

Not interested in the above? You can help contribute to something like the Descartes Scholarship Endowment. It helps bright kids to pay for their schooling so they can someday help contribute back to this fund through the Pink Tie Pledge!

If none those options even remotely interests you, you can even choose to pledge to your own area of the Math Faculty. For instance, you could pledge to the Orientation Committee, or to your favourite Math department. You could give back to the Student Societies or even the Computing Facilities. Just use your imagination!

So, you may wonder "Besides the satisfaction of helping someone else, what's in it for me?" Well, first of all, it's a tax write-off and, as all your smart business-student friends will tell you, that's a good thing. Secondly, there's a whole whack of benefits to pledging, like receptions and dinners with the Dean. These, of course, are reserved for higher pledges but you can find out more about it from the MGC website (http://www.student.math.uwaterloo.ca/~mgc/) or you can email us at pinktie.pledge@gmail.com. Thirdly, we need to beat last year's class. They raised just under $83,000! We've set the bar this year to $85,000 and I know that you all want to surpass that number! Come on... DO IT! If that's not enough, just think of the warm feeling you'll get from knowing you've given something back to the community that's nurtured you or turned a blind eye to your academic mischief.

Now that I've got you hooked through peer-pressure, you should know that your pledge doesn't have to be payed off right away. Your pledge is usually collected over the course of a few years and it doesn't matter how small your pledge amount is. Every penny counts! So do you really have any reason not to help out with this great cause?

As well, I'll be running a plethora of "goal-oriented" events that will slowly unveil as time goes by. Next week, February 9th (that's a Wednesday), will be the official kick off of the Pink Tie Pledge. Our first goal oriented event starts that day with the "Pink Tie Mystery Photo". We'll have pledge goals and as they're met, we'll uncover more of the picture. Trust me, you want in on this! The largest donation by the end of the term will receive a whole (instead of butchered) version of this photo to hang on their wall. In order to meet certain goals Jim and I may even shave our heads as incentive. Email any suggestions you have to us!

Also,from that day on, you'll be able to recognize us by the pink ties that we wear. I'll be wearing one every day until the end of the term because that's how long we'll be accepting pledges (if you're lucky, Jim will do the same). Feel free to stop Jim or myself in the hall to ask more about it!

Look to your mathNEWS, and the MGC website for more information on the Pink Tie Pledge. Remember, this year's goal is to reach $85,000 in pledges. Let's all show our support for this great cause!

@Calvin Mok and Jim Morrison
The Pink Tie Pledge Guys