DECEMBER 4, 2024 — UTSA graduate students spearheading a class project for their Organizational Behavior and Management course helped revive a holiday toy drive tradition on campus this year. In collaboration with UTSA Campus Services, students helped set up the Toys for Tickets program, which is currently accepting donations.
As in past years, donors can pay for one eligible, outstanding parking citation with the donation of a children’s toy. All toys collected will benefit the Elf Louise Christmas Project, a local nonprofit that provides toys to families in need during the holidays.
The project began in 1969 and is now a nonprofit organization that is 100 percent run by volunteers and funded by donations. Elf Louise benefits families throughout Bexar County.
“We were tasked with choosing an organization and raising donations for them, either through monetary donations or other items like toys,” said Brooklyn Orishak, one of five graduate students in the group. “Our team has been helping Campus Services get the word out that Toys for Tickets has been brought back to UTSA this year.”
Orishak and her team assisted at tabling events near the John Peace Library to spread awareness about toy donations for tickets and created flyers and social media posts to help advertise the program. Once the drive is completed, the team will also help deliver the toys to Elf Louise for their own distribution.
After presenting their project idea to leadership at Campus Services, Orishak and her team connected with Leo Amaro, customer relations manager with Campus Services, who was involved in the original Toys for Tickets project on campus.
Amaro said the campaign had been active at UTSA for several years prior to COVID, and he was excited to hear from the graduate students that Elf Louise fondly remembered UTSA’s involvement with the toy drive.
“Elf Louise is a wonderful organization,” Amaro said. “We really enjoyed working with them previously because anything that is collected is always used. I would encourage anyone, whether or not they have a citation, to donate. It makes a difference.”
Orishak and her team credit Amaro and his colleagues in Campus Services for the hard work they’ve put into helping them revive the holiday campaign, but Amaro gives the credit back to the students.
“I think it’s awesome that the grad students took the initiative to reach out to us about this,” he said. “They saw an opportunity to get something back on campus like this that truly is a win-win for everyone. Because if we can give back to our students and have a positive impact on the lives of people in our community, then why not?”
Eligible citations must be originally valued at $100 or less and issued between Monday, August 26 and Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Toy donations must be new, non-violent and have a minimum value of $20. A receipt is required when dropping the toy off for donation.
Donations will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday at one of the following locations.
The last day to donate is Friday, December 6.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Día en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza, Main CampusCovidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
Virtual (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
UTSA Convocation Center, Main CampusJoin the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusCelebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the graduates from the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
