The Rise.Shine. campaign met for an invitation-only gala in the Nutter Center on Tuesday, April 19, to announce that it has surpassed its financial goal at $152 million.
Because of the campaign, Wright State has been able to offer 339 new scholarships, five new professorships, six endowed chairs and five brand new or renovated buildings. The final total for the financial gifts to date was $152,165,980.38.
Familiar faces shuffled across the stage as Wright State president David Hopkins, the great-niece of the Wright Brothers Amanda Wright Lane and senior Emily Bingham took to the podium. Between speakers, Wright State acting students entertained the crowd by performing numbers from favorites like “Chicago,” and “The Color Purple.”
Finally, the man of the hour took to the stage: Tom Hanks. Anecdote after anecdote, Hanks entertained the donors and honored guests with stories of common acquaintances, such as Stuart McDowell, the Chair of the Department of Dance, Theatre, and Motion Pictures, as well as David McCullough, the visiting historian who spoke earlier that morning on his book “The Wright Brothers.”
Hanks thanked the crowd for their generous donations to Wright State.
“Wright State has already changed lives,” Hanks said, “and with 152 million bucks, holy cow, everybody who contributed to the Rise.Shine. campaign has already changed lives for the good.”
Not only did Hanks poke fun at Dayton’s small-town appeal, he also dropped several comments regarding the color choice of the blue building that is now officially the Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures.
“My warning to you is this: you have unleashed Pandora’s box,” Hanks said. “You have set a precedent that is going to come back to haunt you. You have laid the foundation for what is going to be a riot of color when anyone else wants to put his or her name on a building. The shade of blue that is on the Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures is going to give way to a shade of chartreuse on another building, or a shade of purple.”
