On Wednesday April 17, alumni, students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Savannah Center on the Indiana University Northwest (IUN) campus to celebrate IU Day 2024. IUN decided to double the fun and celebrate IU Day on two days this year, extending Wednesday’s celebration through Thursday. Both installments of the event featured a number of enjoyable activities, including carnival games, a prize wheel, shrub planting, and stuffed animal-making. Attendees snacked on chips with salsa and mini bagel dogs as they participated in the day’s event. Herbkoe Fun Foods also provided root beer floats and fudge puppies, which are chocolate-covered waffles on sticks.
The first IU Day was held in 2016 and it continues to be celebrated on all Indiana University campuses. Student attendees of this year’s event were given cards that directed them to visit each of the eight IU Day activity stations. After previewing the new game room or winning some IUN swag from the campus bookstore’s prize wheel, they could cross these activities off of their card. Each student was given an IUN t-shirt once they completed the final step on their card: re-enrolling for the fall semester.
Academic advisors representing a variety of majors were gathered in the Moraine Student Center’s student lounge, ready to help attendees select their next round of classes. Natalie Vega-Finn, the Director of Academic Advising at IUN, offered some insight into the re-enrollment aspect of this year’s IU Day.
“In the past, we've held our re-enrollment event separately from IU Day,” stated Vega-Finn. “However, since the celebration of IU student success is the theme of IU Day this year, we thought that bringing them together would fit the theme and give us the best of both worlds. I firmly believe in the importance of education and I feel it's my duty to instill that same belief in future generations of students. I hope that at this year’s IU Day event, we continue to help as many IU students as possible reach their goal of getting a degree.”
Although it gives participants a chance to commemorate IU’s history and legacy, IU Day also provides alumni, students, and other individuals with the opportunity to donate to the Indiana University Northwest General Student Scholarship Fund. All IUN students, regardless of their GPA or major, are welcome to apply for this fund. Ed Briscoe, the director of development at IUN, explained how IU Day is especially beneficial for the fund.
“IU Day takes place at a point in the school year when many students have to pay the final fees that are owed before the end of the semester,” Briscoe said.”The IU Northwest General Student Scholarship Fund helps close the financial gap that many of our students deal with. The funds donated on IU Day can help them finish this semester or be prepared to re-enroll for the upcoming academic school year. These funds can make the difference between a student continuing their education here or not. So IU Day is a very pivotal time for us.”
Miriam Ahmad, a health administration major and a student worker in the IUN academic advising office, helped manage the advising office’s table for IU Day. She offered her thoughts on the day’s event, explaining why she feels IU Day is important for the IUN community.
“I personally enjoy IU Day because I like seeing campus life,” Ahmad said. “Because IUN is a commuter campus, participating in campus life is really hard. However, when everyone is on campus together for events like IU Day, we get to see the diversity of our student body and everybody gets to hang out. It's beautiful.”
As the first installment of this year’s IU Day drew to a close, attendees continued enjoying their root beer floats and participating in the activities available in the Savannah Center.
To learn more about Indiana University Northwest, please visit https://northwest.iu.edu/.
