Michigan State University and Kettering University
won the 2008
Gift of Life University Challenge!
After eight weeks of competition, two winners have emerged in the fifth annual Gift of Life University Challenge. Michigan State University in East Lansing and Kettering University in Flint will be awarded traveling trophies for their successful campus and community programs to sign up people on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. In all, 16 Michigan colleges participated in the friendly competition.
Through donor registry tables on campus, mass emails, guest speakers, posters, newspaper stories and the social networking website Facebook, more than 2,500 Michigan residents were inspired to donate life and show their school spirit during the statewide donor drive.
Michigan State University won the trophy for recruiting the most people to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry, with 956 donor registrations. Kettering University won the trophy for most donor registrants as a percentage of student population, with 10.17 percent registering.
"Becoming an organ and tissue donor is something many of us have considered, but never acted upon," said Tracie Jones, associate director of admissions at Kettering University, upon learning her school had won a trophy. "The Gift of Life University Challenge provided us the chance to help others by taking that next step." Inspired by the struggles a friend went through while a family member waited for an organ transplant, Jones asked colleagues and students at Kettering University to let their donation wishes be known by signing up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.
A list of all the colleges that participated in the Gift of Life University Challenge is available on the
Final Standings page. Trophies will be presented to Michigan State University and Kettering University during awards events on campus later this spring.
