Two weeks before my freshman year of college, my friend’s cousin, who was a rising junior at Emory, Facebook messaged me to see if I was excited for school. She also asked me if I would like to be a member of the planning committee for the event she was the co-chair of, Quilt on the Quad. I remember typing “Quilt on the Quad” into Google, and being amazed by all of the AIDS Memorial Quilt panels spread across Emory’s quad. I eagerly accepted a spot on the committee, and have continued with my commitment to honor World AIDS Day at Emory through Quilt on the Quad ever since. Now, as a senior, I am thrilled to be co-chairing the 8th annual Quilt on the Quad event with my best friend (and the editor-in-chief of Her Campus), Jessica Jaksich.
In the past, the Quilt on the Quad planning committee has organized the largest collegiate display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. We have displayed the quilt on the main academic quad and on McDonough Field on World AIDS Day, December 1st. While the event has been successful in raising awareness of the quilt and The Names Project (the organization that supports the quilt), Jessica and I felt that we could improve upon the idea of bringing the quilt to campus by making it a campus-wide AIDS/HIV awareness event with educational and entertaining programming. We also wanted to honor The Names Project’s milestone 25th anniversary by creating a more intimate environment for the staff members of The Names Project to share their work with the Emory community. Moreover, because Emory Hillel/J Health is the biggest sponsor of the event, we chose to have a non-denominational Shabbat dinner at the Marcus Hillel Center following the event.
Because World AIDS Day falls on a Saturday this year, we decided to hold the event the day before (Friday, November 30th). In addition, because it is usually often cold and rainy in Atlanta in late November, we decided to display the quilt indoors in the DUC (on the terraces, hanging from the staircase, in the DUC commons, in Eagles Landing, and in Winship Ballroom). The afternoon event will begin at 3 PM with a reception and reading of the names of those honored on the quilt. Afterwards (until about 5 PM), there will be acapella performances by No Strings Attached and Aural Pleasure and speeches from Karly Taylor, an Emory faculty member whose family created a quilt to honor her late uncle, Dr. John Blevins, an Associate Research Professor at Rollins School of Public Health, Dr. Eric Hunter at the Center for Aids Research, and Roddy Williams and Gert McMullin, staff members at The Names Project.
Please join Jessica and I, the Quilt on the Quad planning committee, and our sponsors, Emory Hillel, the Center for AIDS Research, and College Council, at Quilt on the Quad this Friday, November 30th from 3-5 PM in Winship Ballroom.