A Beloved Campus Tradition Lives

By Eric F. Spina, University of Dayton President

It never crossed the minds of University of Dayton seniors Hannah Ilyavi and Dana Roscoe to cancel Christmas on Campus, what's believed to be one of the nation's largest single-day on-campus community service events.

Instead, this year’s co-directors vowed to bring the spirit of the season to even more first and second graders in the Dayton Public Schools — 1,761 students — making this effort the largest in the event’s 57-year history. They delivered extra gift bags to East End Community Center.

Talk about an indomitable spirit! I love that Hannah and Dana, who live near each other in the suburbs of Chicago, spent the summer brainstorming Plan B when it became clear students would not be able to “adopt” 1,400 Dayton children and watch the wonder in their eyes at a live Nativity and tree-lighting ceremony in the Humanities Plaza that kick off the Dec. 8 tradition every year on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

With the help of a 29-member Christmas on Campus Committee and nearly two dozen student organizations, they decided to create craft kits and deliver holiday cheer to the schools before heading home before Thanksgiving to finish the semester remotely. Some children will make Christmas trees out of popsicle sticks. Others will create gingerbread ornaments or decorate snowmen — similar to the crafts they’d make with students during their annual pilgrimage to campus.

In an ambitious effort, the COC committee also wrote, solicited illustrations from children, and published a 16-page book for classrooms and libraries. The book’s name reflects this year’s theme: “I’m Dreaming of a Dayton Christmas…Traditions Live On.” The students held a T-shirt design competition that drew 40 designs and set up a remote ordering system for the winning shirt. Their campus-wide gift drive brought in a flurry of presents that they delivered to Dayton Children’s Hospital this weekend for the young patients.

As I reflect on their willingness to transform this tradition for the times, I realize they are modeling our Marianist founders. The greatest gift may be ourselves — in selfless service to others.

In a Dec. 2 webinar moderated by COC alumnus Stacy Ziarko ’03, Hannah and Dana will talk about how they adapted this year’s event to build community in an innovative way. The UD way.

In a similar fashion, alumni are spreading holiday cheer, too. The Dayton alumni community is “adopting” Marianists and sharing gift bags. In Nashville, they’re creating activity bags filled with sweet treats and fun holiday games or crafts for families in a homeless shelter. In Denver, they’re collecting gloves and hats for a local elementary school. In all, 35 alumni communities coast to coast and in Puerto Rico are participating in Christmas off Campus.

Indeed, traditions live on.

(This piece originally appeared on my blog on Nov. 24, 2020.)