D I C K I N S O N
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December 2017 SCHAFER, DRAGSETH RECEIVE VOLUNTEER AWARDS AT NATIONAL PHILANTHROPY DAY CEREMONY
THE “RED PAPER CLIP” EXPERIENCE Dickinson State Students Amber Thoeny & Zach Miller Thoeny is a native of Broadus, Montana, and will be graduating this fall with degrees in business administration, accounting, and finance. Miller, of Dickinson, plans to graduate in the spring of 2018 with a degree in computer technology management. Both students are Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program scholars at Dickinson State University. Tell us about the Red Paper Clip project and your involvement. Amber: The Red Paperclip Project is based off of the game Bigger and Better. A person starts out with just one little red paperclip, and the objective of the game is to make trades with people, strangers or friends, until you finish with a trade that achieves your original goal. The example that was used in class was a man from Canada who traded up until he received a house. He couldn’t afford a loan so he started trading objects until he was able to trade for a house.
To usher in the season of giving, the Northern Plains Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals hosts National Philanthropy Day each November where North Dakotans and northwest Minnesotans who engage in philanthropy and volunteerism are honored. The 2017 regional event took place Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fargo where Edward Thompson, CEO of Thompson & Associates, gave the keynote address entitled “Giving That Makes a Difference.” Two members of the Dickinson State campus community received awards at the National Philanthropy Day ceremony. Irene Schafer, a 1983 graduate of Dickinson State College, received the Outstanding Individual Volunteer Award. Schafer volunteers for several organizations and is a wonder at selling raffle tickets for many causes. She founded the Dickinson chapter of Power of 100 Women, a group that has now grown to over 200 women. This year, the group will donate more than $80,000 to four different charities. Dr. Debora Dragseth and her Business Ethics class at Dickinson State University received the Outstanding Volunteer Group Award. For the past four years, the Business Ethics Class, taught by Dragseth, has collected items for the “Red Paper Clip Auction.” Each student receives one red paper clip and must make a minimum of eight exchanges to barter the paper clip for bigger and better items. In April the class holds an auction and the proceeds are donated to a charity or charities that the class chooses at the beginning of the semester.
There were certain rules that we followed to make it fair and to keep us ethically sound. For example we couldn’t trade with people we had already previously traded with. Dr. Dragseth allowed us to help each other if we got stuck trading by offering suggestions or helping contact people, and we weren’t allowed to force people to trade with us. Basically we followed simple ethics. I was a student taking the class, and so I had to participate in the project to receive a grade. At the beginning of the year Dr. Dragseth was contemplating not doing the project, and I was really hoping she would decide to do it one more year because it sounded really fun. What is your most memorable trade? Zach: A $50 Rosie’s food and gas card for a hand spun pitcher, by DSU’s very own, Greg Walter. Amber: I had many memorable trades, but one of the hardest trades I made was an old box style T.V. – you know the ones that take up like 4 square feet of room – and I thought for sure that a pawn shop would trade me something for it. I went to three different pawn shops and they all told me the same thing—they couldn’t make any kind of trade because the T.V. was worthless. I was pretty heartbroken because it was like my sixth trade and I really thought the pawn shops were going to give me something cool. I ended up talking to the manager at Schlotzky’s and explaining that we were doing this trade game for charity and he gave me two $25 gift cards, but the manager told me to keep the T.V. because he didn’t want it. Did you meet any neat people during this process? Amber: I met a ton of neat people when I traded in the community. My first trade was with a stranger at the mailbox because I forgot about trading my paperclip. The dude traded with me without even thinking twice. Pretty cool. I also met a nice lady from Butte, Montana, who was interested in what we were doing, and through my sister, participated in the trade. I also met several people who heard this game was for charity and just donated random items for the silent auction without expecting a trade in return. Zach: Everyone that I traded with had a neat story of how they got the item, so each person had a little story to go along with the item I received which was cool to share with others. What did you learn through this experience?
Irene Schaefer receives her award from Kris Fehr of Dickinson’s Best Friends Mentoring Program.
Zach: Throughout the experience, I learned that it’s okay to get outside of your comfort zone because that is how you truly grow. The Red Paperclip Project is much more than just a project. It teaches students life lessons that will be very applicable in real life situations. Amber: I learned a lot about what people are willing to do in order to help others. It was really pretty nifty to be a part of such a fun experience. Each year Dr. Dragseth allows the class to pick which charity we want to give the proceeds of the silent auction to. My class couldn’t pick one charity over the other because they were all good, meaningful charities, so we chose the United Way of Dickinson, since they help donate to all charities in the area. It was amazing to see how eager my class was to raise as much as they could to help such a great cause.
hristmas
DSU RODEO TEAM
DSU Indoor Arena (north side) while supplies last L to R: Amber Thoeny, Dr. Debora Dragseth, and Zach Miller receive an award for their work in the Red Paper Clip project.
Mon-Fri 4 - 8 p.m. Sat-Sun 1 - 5 p.m.
Celebrate the Holidays with
DICKINSON STATE UNIVERSITY
tree sale
(701) 483-2185 Proceeds support the DSU Rodeo Team
2017
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