Final class projects are a pretty standard assignment for many college students and typically take the form of research papers, video projects, models, or a compilation of graphs and charts outlining the outcomes of student theories and research the student studied or conducted over the course of a semester.
However, sometimes a student thinks of project that not only takes on a life of its own, but also becomes something more than just another class project.
That is exactly what happened with the final class project idea Patricia Masters came up with.
Ms. Masters, a Penn State Worthington Scranton nursing student taking Social Problems 005, came up with the idea of doing a fundraiser that would actually help a regional social service agency.
She met with her instructor, Maripat O'Donnell, and discussed the idea: hold a fundraiser that would be fun, social, get students and the community involved, and could be done in the few weeks' time she had left before the semester ended and her final project was due.
Her project is now a reality and on August 7, the work that Ms. Masters and a handful of other Worthington Scranton students has done, will come to fruition during a two-hour Happy Hour Fundraiser at Kildare's in Scranton, benefitting The Children's Advocacy Center, which provides a full range of services to children who are victims of abuse.
On August 7, from 7 to 9 p.m., Kildare's will host the fundraiser featuring free drinks and appetizers for a fee of $20 being charged at the door, along with music provided free of charge by local disc jockey Deb Wilson. There will also be donated raffle prizes from area businesses and organizations for a 50-50 raffle, as well as special basket raffles.
Half of all the proceeds collected at the door, as well as all the money received from the baskets and the 50/50 raffles, will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center.
"I wanted to do something unique and different for my final project; something that would really help others," Ms. Masters said. "The Children's Advocacy Center does wonderful work in our community and is a very deserving organization. Also, with the recent events that have taken place over the past few months at Penn State, as a Penn State Worthington Scranton student, I wanted to do something positive for children -- to show everyone what Penn State and Penn State students are really all about."
Along with fellow classmates Nicole Klimash, Eric Kuhn, and Craig Pezak, Ms. Masters has been visiting area businesses to collect donations, raffle prizes, and post flyers in order to get the word out about this student-organized event.
"Patricia has been working endlessly on this task," said her instructor Maripat O'Donnell, "and hopefully we'll have a great turnout the night of the event."
The event, which is completely student-initiated and student-organized, is open to the public. Anyone interested in attending, or helping out by donating raffle/gift items is asked to contact Patricia Masters via email at [email protected].