1,040 school kids attend UD Christmas on Campus

An estimated 1,040 city school district students visited the UD campus for the 52nd edition of Christmas on Campus.

There were the usual festivities — Santa and Mrs. Claus, the lighting of the tree, games and lots of food — but delivered this year on a pleasant night that didn’t feature frigid air or snow.

“The weather could not be more perfect,” said Matthew Kubiak, one of the co-coordinators on the 24-member committee that put together this year’s event.

“Last year it was really cold. The year before that, it snowed,” said the senior marketing and management information systems major from Toledo.

“The theme this year is ‘The Greatest Gift’,” Hannah Weiker, a junior, said in a prepared statement. “We wanted to signify that it’s not what’s under the tree; Christmas on Campus is so much more than that. Our greatest gift is being together at Christmas.”

Started in 1964 as a way for students to celebrate the holiday before heading home for winter break, Christmas on Campus has evolved into what is believed to be one of the nation’s largest single-day, on-campus community service events.

Nearly three-quarters of the undergraduate student body is involved in some way and all activities are free and open to the public.

One night. For three hours. Every year.

Tuesday night, 27 buses ferried in the students, each of whom had a UD student as a chaperone, said Kubiak, who encourages everyone in the area to experience the event.

“The best three hours I could ever ask for,” he said.