Pin Collecting Program Surges on Campus

The Office of Student Engagement (OSE) is sparking social engagement and student participation with a new pin collecting program. Students collect pins throughout the year from campus events and activities. Not only do they get an array of custom keepsakes, but they can also form new connections and nurture their love of collecting.

Some of the pins offered in the collecting program.

McDaniel is making college memories tangible. This fall, the Office of Student Engagement (OSE) launched a new pin collecting program at the annual Involvement Fair. Since then, the program has sparked social engagement and student participation across campus. Students can collect pins throughout the year from campus events and activities — from attending a World Kindness Day celebration to completing the New Student Survey from Institutional Research. By the end of the fall semester, not only will they have a collection of custom keepsakes, but they may also have new connections and a deeper sense of belonging.

To join the pin collecting program, students can sign up at any OSE-sponsored event or at the OSE pin collecting table in the mid-level of Roj Student Center every Wednesday. Once they’re signed up, they select a lanyard and a lanyard buddy keychain, and they receive a starter pin. As students attend events or complete activities associated with the program, they grow their collection — and their sense of belonging in the McDaniel community.

Multiple departments are collaborating with OSE to help the pin collecting program thrive. Offices like the Center for Experience & Opportunity, the Wellness Center, Student Success, and Hoover Library have all hosted events where students can obtain an exclusive pin. They partner with OSE’s Amanda Gelber, senior director of student engagement, to increase event attendance.

Gelber’s interest in generational research inspired the pin collecting program. Her research has shown that Gen Z college students and millennials — her generation — are interested in the same types of collecting. “I’ve truly connected with the students so much about it,” Gelber says.

Building collections also builds connections, which is the exact motivation behind the pin collecting program. Sophomore Carter Davies — a Health Sciences major in McDaniel’s Five-Year Bachelor’s-to-Master’s in Occupational Therapy program and a collector himself — is helping lead the program with the intention of fostering connection.

A close-up shot of a student's lanyard filled with collectible pins. — A lanyard full of pins from the collecting program.

"People find themselves in the things they collect. Continuously building that collection is building a part of themselves."

Carter Davies, sophomore

“McDaniel is made up of individual communities that intersect with each other, forming the larger community on the Hill,” he says. “Each person can find their sense of belonging at events, and they keep coming back because they keep having fun.”

The pins have already served as a major driving force for event attendance on campus. At the Involvement Fair alone, over 300 lanyards and lanyard buddies were given out to launch the program.

“Our attendance rates have improved so much because of the game of collecting,” says Gelber. “I’ve had students show up to events because of the pin.”

Students take photos repping their McDaniel pins, whether they have only one or an entire lanyard. They put the pins on display, wear them on backpacks, and use them to secure photos on corkboards.

“People find themselves in the things they collect,” Davies says. “Continuously building that collection is building a part of themselves. It represents each person in their own unique way.”

Davies, Gelber, and others behind the pin program hope that McDaniel students will hold onto the pins as mementos of their time on the Hill for years to come. Sophomore Amvru “Ivan” Ang — a triple major in Political Science, Psychology, and Spanish — sees each pin as a marker in time.

“There’s a history behind each pin,” Ang says. “Collecting is part of my story and my memories. I use my collections to remember the good times that I’m living, so I love that it’s part of McDaniel now.”

Senior Brandalynn Coon, a Biology major with a minor in Religious Studies, agrees.

“I love collecting things from each moment and memory,” she says. “It’s great to do that in college because it goes by super fast. College is a big part of your life that goes by in a blink, so we want McDaniel students to take something tangible with them to represent those memories.”

Pins available in the collecting program, including the NASA-inspired OSE logo pin.

"College is a big part of your life that goes by in a blink, so we want McDaniel students to take something tangible with them to represent those memories."

Brandalynn Coon, senior

The pins have already created treasured memories. Davies, Ang, and Coon erupt into laughter and smiles as they show off their favorite pins: the “horrendous” historic Green Terror head, the NASA-inspired OSE logo, and the Hilltop Fair pin — designed by Ang’s godmother in Mexico, Zabdy Romero Ponce.

“My hope for the pin collecting program is that students might attend an event that they normally wouldn’t have and meet or network with somebody new on campus,” Gelber says. “If they make one new connection or have one solid engagement opportunity that helps them understand college better or feel a stronger sense of belonging, I consider it a success.”

Two male students and one female student smile in Roj Student Center as they show off their pin collections on lanyards and backpacks. — (L-R) Amvru "Ivan" Ang, Carter Davies, and Brandalynn Coon show off some pins on their lanyards and backpacks.