Seniors in a School of Business and Entrepreneurship practicum have worked all semester to bring to life the college’s main fundraising event. The Power of Persistence Gala will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5 and feature the work of students from across the college who were invited to participate in live simulators for donors. 

The gala is Columbia’s largest means of raising money for scholarships, with this year geared toward fundraising for the persistence scholarships, which provide funds for students at risk of leaving college before graduating due to financial need. 

The gala will begin with an interactive reception at the Student Center at 6 p.m. followed by a program and dinner at 7:30 p.m. The annual gala has raised over $1 million since 2022 when it began under former President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim. 

Students in the “events management practicum” course taught by Associate Professors Mary Filice and Robert Blandford work with students from a variety of artistic disciplines to showcase their work. 

This semester, there were 11 undergraduate students and seven graduate students enrolled in the course.

Gus Kelsey, a senior illustration major and member of the course’s events management team, described the gala as a “great opportunity for people to see illustration in action.”

A new mural was painted along the wall of the fifth floor of the Student Center, which will showcase what students working on a mural look like in real time, Kelsey said.

“That’s what we’re here to do,” Kelsey said. “We’re here to demonstrate our skill sets to people that are coming.”

Planning for the event started in early September and the mural has been a work in progress since late October, Kelsey said.

“It’s so rewarding to see it up there on the wall, seeing what you and your peers are able to accomplish in just not even 15, I would say it’s more like 10 weeks,” Kelsey said.

“This has just been a really valuable learning experience for me as a creative professional,” Kelsey said.

Jennifer Kempf, a graduate student in arts management, contributed to the production of the event and facilitated the process of designing the mural throughout the semester.

“It feels really nice to see it all come together,” Kempf said. “I’m excited to get the experience of working it because it’s kind of like what this has all led up to.”

Kempf, who is enrolled in both the event management and gallery management courses, said that the team has been working with a lot of students to get their opinions on the activation so that the donors can “really get a firsthand experience of what it’s like to be a Columbia student.”

Activations will be held on the first, third, fourth and fifth floor of the Student Center. Filice said she looks forward to hosting student-run companies or “entities” at the benefits each year. In previous years, Columbia’s record label AEMMP and the campus radio station WCRX were featured. This year, the Chronicle will have a “mock” newsroom set up at the gala with 12 students participating.

The other “activation” groups included the SXSW in the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, the Career Center, the School of Film and Television, the creative writing and game design programs, Shop Columbia, street musicians, comedy improv, photography, illustration and fashion.

“What I’m really excited for is for the guests to walk away with the understanding of how absolutely creative, innovative and professional our students are, and that every aspect that they’re learning here,” Filice said.

The Interactive Arts and Media students enrolled in the practicum have been planning a “game showcase” activation, including a visual novel set in a video store called Buster’s Video as well as a 3D-style detective game called Clockwork Enigma.

“It’s a combination of, as we approach closer, joy, excitement and relief, you know,” said senior music business major Diego Lucero. “This is awesome, but it’ll be good to have one thing off the plate.”

Lucero said that his hopes following the gala are for Columbia to make a “good impression” and to beat the record of last year’s revenue, which was over $700,000.

Senior arts management major Will Ramirez said it was rewarding working with like-minded individuals.

“It’s been very informative as to how we as a generation work in traditional settings. There’s almost this telekinetic communication revenue that happens where we kind of just know. So yeah, overall, been a great experience working with people my age. But yeah, because we’re working with so many people, I will say communication is probably the hardest aspect,” said Ramirez. 

Ramirez described the idea behind working with the fashion students was to allow them to portray their own work as an accumulation of their efforts at Columbia.

The stairs going to the second floor of the Student Center were blocked off on Tuesday, Dec. 3 with mannequins that will be dressed with clothing designed by senior BFA fashion students.

“The installation is meant to highlight the BFA fashion seniors for this graduating 2025 class. So the work that’s on display is literally their graduating thesis,” said Ramirez. 

“The students have been amazing,” Filice said. “They came into this class energized, committed and really happy to be able to be doing something that will not only allow them to put everything into the learning, their creativity, their professionalism, to work on the fundraiser that is all dedicated to raising money for student scholarships.”

Senior arts management major Camryn Mather, who worked alongside BFA fashion seniors as well as the DJ club, said the class had been a mix of emotions, but was overall rewarding. 

“I love seeing the end product build up. It’s a little bit stressful and a lot going on, but up until this point, it’s been a pretty cool process,” said Mather.

Senior ASL-English Interpretation major Amaya Berry, who helped organize activations for the Chronicle and the Career Center, said that her hope for the gala is to “get through to the donors.”

“I think society in general, the way we view college is kind of skewed. Some people, a lot of people, think that college is a waste of time, and that there is no point in going to college. It’s a lot of money, things of that nature, but they don’t really see the journey,” Berry said. “I think that this event really streamlights that people who go to college are people with passions.”

Berry said that the Career Center’s activation would entail a Candy Land-themed “game of life” in which attendees will be able to see the process that a student goes through to reach academic success upon graduation.

“All of it has been really insightful, and it’s been an amazing experience to really just come together on one day and see all of our efforts, you know, be brought to fruition,” Berry said.

This story has been updated.

Editor’s Note: The Chronicle’s reporting and coverage of the gala is separate from its participation as one of the student groups invited to provide a simulation for donors.

Copy edited by Doreen Abril Albuerne-Rodriguez