From April 3-7, Carleton hosted the fourth annual Maize and Blue Daize celebration. The multi-day event centered around fostering campus community spirit and educating current students about the importance of gifts to the school from alumni, parents and friends. Students have the opportunity to learn, engage and celebrate through events such as Major Celebration, Coffee with Carls which is intended to be reminiscent of off-campus networking experiences, and Senior Showcase, a scavenger hunt-style raffle.  On-campus events coincided with an off-campus fundraising effort by the Alumni Annual Fund (AAF).

Maize and Blue Daize is a collaboration between Parent Family Giving, Alumni Annual Fund Office and the Alumni Affairs Office, though in recent years other campus offices such as Physical Education and Recreation have begun taking part in the festivities. 

At its core, Maize and Blue Daize is a fundraising effort that aims to raise money, primarily from alumni, for the benefit of the AAF. AAF Director Anita Fisher-Egge ’94 said that these funds, unlike the endowment, remain uninvested and are spent in the same fiscal year.

According to Fisher-Egge, last year’s Maize and Blue Daize raised $1,075,719 from a total of 1,974 donors, including family, friends and alumni.

The AAF operates on a peer-to-peer model in which classmates reach out to each other to encourage donations. During Maize and Blue Daize, different campus groups such as the football team, run campaigns to target program-specific alumni as well. Donors can opt to designate their gift towards areas such as financial aid, athletics or Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) initiatives. They can also have their donation be unrestricted, in which case it goes towards an area of greatest need. 

For students, Maize and Blue Daize serves more as a spirit week than anything else, with educational opportunities about philanthropy and connecting with Carleton post-graduation. Students also had opportunities to extend gratitude to current alumni donors through thank-you-note writing and recording short videos.

Throughout the first three days, students could stop by Maize and Blue Daize Headquarters in the Great Hall. There, students received a passport to the event which offered a variety of activities to be completed in exchange for points. Activities included completing a Carleton-themed crossword, posting on social media and attending events such as Convocation. Points could then be redeemed for items such as a Maize and Blue Daize shirt, Carleton-themed playing cards or a Carleton-themed JBL speaker. 

Student Alumni Ambassadors helped to promote these events through tabling in Sayles and other efforts. Thea Comas ’26 said that such ambassadors “plan a couple different events throughout the year to create an on-campus presence for current students to learn about the ways alumni are involved.” 

The ambassadors aim to offer one targeted opportunity at each class through First Year Fall Day, Major Celebration (formerly Major Declaration), the Junior Jubilee, new this year, which is being hosted for the first time this year, and Senior Banquet. These events also serve to foster class community and school pride.

Comas said that students often under-appreciate the involvement of Carleton’s alumni network. Student Alumni Ambassadors work to actively build and maintain connections to that network among current students. Ambassadors aim to “keep people connected to the campus experience and… stay connected after they graduate so we can continue this relationship,” Comas said.

Maize and Blue Daize is only the most recent rendition of an event that has taken many forms throughout the years. In the 90s, Fisher-Egge recalls the school hosting a phone-a-thon in the Great Hall where students would directly reach out to alumni to ask for gifts. Over time, students became less willing to call, and alumni became less likely to answer; the event evolved into “Give Day,” which later became “Volunteer for Carleton.” It continues evolving each year, with a recent change changing the Major Declaration event to Major Celebration to encourage more students to participate. The offices involved also work carefully to schedule Maize and Blue Daize early enough in the term that students still feel like they have time to take a break and do some fun activities. 

Fisher-Egge hopes that, above all, students will talk about Maize and Blue Daize. “A successful Maize and Blue Daize is people walking around asking ‘What’s Maize and Blue Daize?’ and someone popping up and answering,” she said.