On Valentine’s Day, while many were spending time with significant others or indulging in a copious amount of heart shaped chocolates, University students were celebrating a caritas of a different kind — I Love Villanova Day.

Sponsored by the Student Advancement Ambassadors (SAA) and the Senior Gift Committee, I Love Villanova Day is an event held to encourage students to donate to the University (outside of Connelly Student Center and in Bartley Business School.)

“The goal of the day is to remember why we love Nova and give students the chance to donate to their school as well as have seniors make their class gift,” Marisa Sully, Event Chair of I Love Villanova Day, said. “We always have food and prizes to give out whether a student makes a donation or not. Our main goal is student involvement.”

The event also featured a raffle with prizes from local area vendors, including Anne Taylor Ardmore, Barre3, FlyWheel Sports, Hope’s Cookies, La Colombe, Playabowls and Roast + Chop to name a few. 

“I Love Villanova Day is important to Villanova because it gives the students a chance to celebrate what their school means to them as well as the places around the community that makes Villanova special,” Sully said. “It gives students a fun break in their day and also the opportunity to make their own gift to Villanova to help our community to continue to grow.”

“We did reach our goals and it was one of our most successful events.” Sully said, “We had a lot of feedback from students how they thought it was a great idea and had fun participating.”

Sully encourages students to follow I Love Villanova on Instagram, @villanovasaa, for information about prizes and pictures from the day of the event.

Hopeful for the future of the event, Sully said, “this is an annual event with the goal to always increase student engagement with their school, for them to feel and know that they are a reason why Villanova is so great and to give them a chance to take part in the school’s success.”