By: Abby Miller
Mar. 19, 2026
A competitive spirit wafted through the air as Thiel College hosted its 13th annual Match Day on Tuesday, March 3. By the time the buzzer sounded, the Tomcat community had not only hit the mark, but also rewritten the record book. This year, Match Day was themed to fit the competitive and energetic nature of the Thiel community, “Game, Set, Match,” emphasizing the collaborative nature of the game-like event, unlocking special gifts and challenges when goals were reached. For the first time in Match Day history, all 19 participation challenges were completed. The collective effort from the generous 640 individual donors and Thiel community resulted in an astounding $254,000 for the Thiel Fund.
Match Day began in the Beeghly Gymnasium bright and early with opening ceremony remarks from David Mogle, Ian Slippy, and Roberta Leonard. This year, the day heavily relied on the individual participation-based matches where specific groups had to reach a total number of donors to unlock larger sums of money from lead sponsors. The headline challenge was the Total Donor Challenge, which unlocked a $10,000 gift once 600 donors gave to the Thiel Fund. This year, Greek Life proved to be a powerhouse with 363 total donors, the highest number in Match Day history. Delta Sigma Phi came out on top of the fraternities, while Zeta Tau Alpha claimed the number one spot in donor participation over the other sororities. Campus staff, faculty, and students set an additional record with 112 total donors. A few more benchmarks were set during Match Day with 95 first-generation graduate donors, 181 student-athlete donors, and nine decades of alumni participating in this event.
While these numbers are truly impressive, the true impact of Match Day will be felt in the classroom, on athletic fields, and on stage. As someone who was fortunate to work on Match Day this year, I can attest to the importance of what Match Day does for the students. Admittedly, before stepping behind the curtain to work with the Match Day crew, I would put myself in the same boat as many of my fellow classmates: I knew Match Day was an event held annually on campus, but I didn’t fully grasp the ‘why’ behind the ‘what.’ I think there is a common misconception on campus that all the new buildings, jerseys, trips, and even scholarships that show up on our financial aid packages are simply there and that we are ‘paying’ for all of these experiences by default, but after speaking with David Mogle, I got a more in depth explanation to what the Thiel Fund really is. 100% of the money raised during Match Day goes into the Thiel Fund, which acts as the silent engine of our daily campus lives. It isn’t just a pot of money for only certain people to dig into, but rather a fund that ensures the Tomcat experience is defined by opportunity, rather than out-of-pocket costs. The money from this fund helps cover costs of school trips (New York City over Spring Break), bussing for sport events, need-based scholarships, and academic programming that tuition doesn’t cover alone. Match Day is not only an event that serves as a way to help finance these things, but also to build and create a memorable experience you can only get at Thiel College.
Since its debut in 2014, Match Day has raised over $2.3 million for the students at Thiel and the community looks to break more records in the upcoming years.