2nd Annual SLATS Bowl-a-thon a Huge Success!

SLATS Bowl-a-thon #2...Twice the fun, Twice the Success!

By: Haylie Dehm (MAT Class of 2016)

This year the Saint Louis University Athletic Training Society (SLATS), our student association, hosted its 2nd annual bowling fundraiser at Moolah Lanes for the AT student scholarship fund.  The 2014 SLATS Bowl-A-thon took on a higher meaning for our program because, as a part of Saint Louis University’s new "Go Further" campaign, every dollar raised is being matched, which means our goal of $6,000 would become $12,000 in the blink of an eye! How awesome is that?!

With this University-wide program, that means that the scholarship fund is growing larger, sooner so more students may get the opportunity to receive a Bauman Endowed Athletic Training Scholarship! In the end we raised over $6,500! We reached our goal and I could not be any more proud of my peers for raising such a great amount of money in such a short period of time! (Just imagine what we could have raised in a longer period of time!)

Last year I had a blast at the event and this year I was extremely excited to be a Co-Chair with Rachel Spika! Prior to the actual event, students from the program submitted a list of potential donors. Every student that submitted a list got free admission into the event. Anyone who donated on behalf of a student had the opportunity to attend and partake in the fun of free bowling and food! Anyone else who came had to pay $12 which is a great bargain considering they were getting catered food from The Pasta House and unlimited bowling for 2 hours!

SLATS Executive Board Members -- Mary Rhatigan (back left) – PY2 Class Rep, Andria Lampe (back right) – Philanthropy/PR Chair, Kayla Kelly (front right) – PY 1 Class Rep, Haylie Dehm (front left) – Vice President – enjoying the catering from The Pasta House while working the door at check-in.

I think my favorite thing from this event was the Bowling Shirts! Anyone who got 10 people to donate in their name got one of these highly sought after items! Also the top 5 people that had the most money donated in their name got a free bowling shirt! And finally the person who had the most walk-in attendees received a shirt! In this case, there was a tie for most walk-ins and two people were given the awesome shirts! Michael Aaron and Christian Ahlstrom were the only ones to have 10 or more people donate in their name. Those two along with Rachel Spika, Raquel Roberts-Hamilton, and Emily Costabile were the Top 5 money-makers! Stuart Plamp and Kathleen McGovern brought the most walk-ins. Unfortunately the picture of Bowling Shirt winners was taken before it was revealed that Stuart and Kathleen got theirs so this picture is missing them in their Retro Bowling Shirt Glory!

From Left to Right: Michael Aaron – 17 donors and 3^rd overall highest donation total, Christian Ahlstrom – 13 donors and 1^st overall highest donation total, Emily Costabile – 2^nd highest donation total, Rachel Spika – 5^th highest donation total, Raquel Roberts-Hamilton – 4^th highest donation total

‘Twas a great night and I can’t wait to attend the Third Annual Saint Louis University Society Athletic Training Bowl-A-Thon!