Ouachita Tiger Tunes wins national award for Outstanding Student Advancement Program

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Ouachita Student Foundation leaders (from left) Selby Tucker, Jaret Webb and Alec Edmonds accepted the 2018 Outstanding Student Advancement Program award at the recent national Conference for Student Advancement.

September 11, 2018 - Rachel Bruton

Ouachita Baptist University’s annual Tiger Tunes was named the 2018 Outstanding Student Advancement Program by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Affiliated Student Advancement Programs at the recent national Conference for Student Advancement in Louisville, Ky.

award The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is an international association that serves educational institutions and professionals who work on their behalf in communications, marketing, alumni relations and development. ASAP, the Affiliated Student Advancement Program, is an organization within CASE that helps organizations like the Ouachita Student Foundation to elevate their program and learn best practices from other programs in the nation.

Over 700 universities were represented at CASE ASAP this year with 200 universities present at the convention. Eight other colleges were nominated for this award, including notable universities like University of California in Los Angeles and Smith College. This national recognition comes after the Ouachita Student Foundation (OSF), the student-led organization that is responsible for hosting Tiger Tunes, joined CASE ASAP in the fall of 2017.

“When we joined CASE ASAP last fall, I knew I wanted to nominate Tunes with the anniversary coming up – not knowing if we would even be considered since we just joined the organization this year,” said Jon Merryman, Ouachita’s director of Alumni Relations and the Ouachita Student Foundation.

Tiger Tunes is a fundraising event held during Ouachita’s Homecoming weekend every fall.

The student-produced song-and-dance competition features student performers from campus organizations and social clubs, and proceeds are awarded to junior and senior Ouachita students as scholarships. This year will be the 40th anniversary of Tiger Tunes, which has raised more than $1.5 million since its founding. This award is following a record-breaking year where the program raised $100,000 in the fall of 2017.

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“The award is significant because it shines a light on the amazing work of OSF members past and present – and especially the creative structure of the event yielding so much money for student scholarships,” Merryman said. “Other universities have reached out asking about how they can create something similar, which is fun since Baylor University’s Sing event is what we modeled Tiger Tunes after, just with a philanthropic goal for scholarships. I think our students can be proud that the work they do with Tiger Tunes was recognized in such a big way at CASE.”

Student representatives from OSF were given the opportunity to network with students from other universities and learn about their student advancement programs. These representatives of OSF also received the CASE ASAP annual ROLL Call Spirit Award on the first night of the conference.

“For me personally, it was so rewarding to see the hard work of my peers and friends pay off. It takes so much to prepare for Tiger Tunes each fall, from directors planning the shows, students spending hours in practice every night and all the behind-the-scenes work to get the show up and running,” said Alec Edmonds, OSF president. “To come back after receiving this award and see how much pride it brings to students in OSF, Tiger Tunes directors and my friends in class to put this event on for student scholarships is just incredible.” Edmonds is a senior mass communications major from North Little Rock, Ark.

In addition to receiving the two awards, the Ouachita Student Foundation was invited to present at next year’s national conference in Baltimore.

The 40th anniversary performances of Tiger Tunes will take place Sept. 27-29, and tickets are available at obu.edu/boxoffice.

By Rachel Bruton

Lead photo by Jon Merryman: Ouachita Student Foundation leaders (from left) Selby Tucker, Jaret Webb and Alec Edmonds accepted the 2018 Outstanding Student Advancement Program award at the recent national Conference for Student Advancement. Download the full photo here.

September 11, 2018