Dragons launch innovative social media scholarship program
#BeADragon
Grit, Heart and Humility are Minnesota State University Moorhead’s core values and the university has initiated a competitive scholarship campaign to attract like-minded students. By creating a social media scholarship contest around the hashtag #BeADragon, the university is breaking new ground by capitalizing on MSUM’s quickly growing social media presence to introduce prospective students to the culture of the university.
Students have been quick to participate creating dozens of tweets within the first 24 hours of the program including, “I want to #BeADragon so I can attend a college with small class sizes and make my friends and family proud!” and “I want to #BeADragon to major in my dream career! I can’t wait to be a Dragon!”
“I value and understand the importance of traditional indicators for college preparedness,” said MSUM President Anne Blackhurst. “For the past 125 years our university has attracted students who have a little something extra and now that we have defined what that is, we are intentionally looking for students with grit, heart and humility.”
The $2,500 competitive one-time scholarships are focused on new incoming degree seeking students. It requires applicants who have been admitted to MSUM by March 11th to tweet with the #BeADragon hashtag. Entries will be judged on how creatively the entrants display MSUM’s Grit, Humility and Heart and overall Dragon Pride in a tweet explaining why they wish to be a Dragon. The tweet can include pictures, video and other media.
“The #BeADragon competitive scholarships allow us to intentionally recruit students who exemplify our core values, meet prospective students in their place and do it in an impactful way,” said Doug Peters, interim vice president for Enrollment Management.
No stranger to social media it was Blackhurst who initially approved live tweeting during graduation ceremonies. When she was chosen as the 11th president of MSUM, the campus community created the #annefan hashtag to express their approval. An avid Twitter user, Blackhurst live tweets from campus and community events, welcomes visitors and prospective students to campus, thanks University partners, and invites students who voice complaints to meet face to face.
“The #BeADragon scholarship initiative takes the core values our campus community has lived since its beginnings and uses today’s technology to bring it to tomorrow’s students and that is awesome,” said Blackhurst.
Details on the #BeADragon campaign can be found at www.mnstate.edu/beadragon or by calling the Admissions Office at 218.477.2161. The #BeADragon awards are in addition to the full complement of automatic scholarships MSUM awards for academic achievement.