This story has been updated to reflect Chi Omega's involvement with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

During their sophomore year, Neeley Fellows undergraduates are required to use the knowledge they gained from classes to give back to the community. 

Sophomore accounting and finance double major Katherine Oster said she and three others are working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for their group's service learning project. 

Oster said she thinks students are less likely to volunteer with the foundation because of the lack of an on-campus organization that works with Make-A-Wish. The group members said they want to help make students more aware of the foundation, so that is why they focused on Make-A-Wish.

While TCU sorority Chi Omega maintains an active involvement with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and hosts multiple philanthropy events for the organization, such as Frats at Bat, there is no other officially recognized student orgainzation that is partnered with Make-A-Wish.  

Oster and her group members–Courtney Schmit, Julia Peacock and Payton Anderson–are required to give 25 hours of their time for this project. Schmit, a marketing and entrepreneurial management double major, said even after the project requirements are fulfilled, the group plans to continue spreading awareness on campus with the goal of creating an official organization at TCU.

The original four group members have drawn in other students to help support their process of becoming an organization, Schmit said.

"We need ten students in order to start an organization on campus, and so far we have a little over ten," Schmit said.

Oster said they are planning to start as an organization the beginning of next semester. The group is currently working on spreading awareness on campus through word-of-mouth and by selling tank tops. The group held their first event Monday night at Cold Stone Creamery, donating proceeds to the Make-A-Wish North Texas Chapter.

The primary goal for their project is to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation be more accessible to students and to provide students with an opportunity to work with others who are in need, Schmit said.

“I think that this organization will be a good reminder for the students of real-world struggles of those outside of the TCU community,” Schmit said.

Anderson, a sophomore marketing major, wrote that she would like to see their project become an on-campus organization at TCU. 

“I believe that with the resources TCU has, we can make a huge impact on the lives of the Wish kids, their families and the organization as a whole,” Anderson wrote.

Email Oster at [email protected] for information about how to get involved.

Click below for the location of the North Texas Make-A-Wish Chapter and for locations of Make-A-Wish events the chapter will be involved with in May.

View Make-A-Wish North Texas Chapter in a larger map.