Unify, a campaign which seeks to bring the student body together by encouraging and celebrating one another, has selected “Impact” as its theme this year to highlight how everyone has an impact on those around them.
Three years ago, senior Rachel Parrett and alumna Tori Saffell founded Unify. Parrett said they both felt a calling to create a small reminder of the importance of unity and how the student body is stronger together than they are divided.
The committee selects an overall theme as a focus for the year. In 2017, the theme was “Encouragement,” and in 2018, it was “Celebrating our Differences.” Committee member Brittany Dubose said she came up with the theme this year, and the rest of the committee voted on it.
“The purpose of Impact is to bring awareness to the people who are making a change at OC,” Dubose said. “From the students to the staff, and the janitors to the faculty, we all have an opportunity to rise up and make an impact. We all agreed that it would be an awesome theme for this year due to its importance on campus.”
In addition to Parrett, committee members include Hannah Durham, Ross Ransleben, Audrey Redfearn, Landon Cargill, Gavin Meisels, Jacob Elmore, Brittany Dubose, Josh Clements, Olivia Raff and David Young.
“This year was the first year we received funding for Unify, so we decided to have Carly Davis design T-shirts and stickers for us to sell on campus,” Parrett said. “All proceeds from shirt and sticker sales will go to Hearts for Hearing.”
The shirts and stickers are meant to bring awareness for unity across campus, and all of the proceeds will go to Spring Sing’s charity, according to Dubose. Shirts are $5 and stickers are $1, and they will be sold after club night and during all Spring Sing shows Friday and Saturday.
Parrett said anyone can get involved by signing up. She said Unify was not created to be a large, well-known event.
“Tori and I wanted Unify to be convenient for students to be a part of instead of being a large time commitment,” Parrett said. “We understand the busy schedules that make up student’s lives, so we made Unify convenient to be involved in.”
Past Unify campaigns were successful, according to Parrett. She said she personally saw a positive impact from last year’s Unify by seeing the committee come together from all parts of campus.
“Seeing a random group of students come together and create an event that celebrates differences was a true blessing for me to witness,” Parrett said.
Dubose said she hopes the “Impact” theme will encourage everyone at Oklahoma Christian University to be more intentional with one another and to be aware of their impact and voice in the community.
“I think Unify is important because it brings everyone together for a better purpose,” Dubose said. “Rush sometimes gets in the way of friendships and Unify is intended to break those stereotypes of club lines to bring everyone, no matter the club or even doctorate degree, together.”
Unify Chapel will be today during Big Chapel, where several committee members will speak, and a new Unify video by David Young and Canaan Burkett will show. Parrett said a banner will hang in the student center for students to sign.
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