March Madness is more than just a sorority event for Emily McAuliff. As a passionate advocate for impacting children’s lives, she has dedicated her last two years at Illinois State University to chairing the Make-A-Wish Illinois event. McAuliff is driven by a desire to impact others—most notably, children.
With an astonishing average of over 3,000 attendees, this special event has become a cornerstone of the philanthropic efforts of all sororities and fraternities at ISU.
“Working with Make-A-Wish Illinois has been one of the most rewarding and inspiring experiences of my life,” said McAuliff, a senior public relations major.
With a background working with youth, McAuliff sought out opportunities that could physically and mentally change the lives of critically ill children forever. She’s had the gratifying opportunity to put together smaller events that include spending time with the wish kids and raising money for them to grant their biggest wishes in life.
“March Madness is a large-scale dance competition, held at the CEFCU Arena, hosted by Illinois State University fraternities and sororities. All participants have a chance to win money for their own charitable organizations. Planning this event requires an abundance of phone calls, funding, planning, and coordinating,” McAuliff said.
“I have been putting my all into planning this impactful event so that we can raise more money than the previous year. Last year, the event raised over $87,000. I set a goal to raise $90,000 this year,” said McAuliff.
McAuliff smashed her goal with this year’s event totaling $96,603.24.
Since the first day of the 2022-23 academic year, McAuliff has been preparing to begin her position as the March Madness chairwoman.
“The Greek Life community is amazing; I love getting to know people from different chapters and watching their dances. The work they put into March Madness is greatly appreciated by the Chi Omega chapter, as well as the Make-A-Wish families,” said McAuliff.
She is able to personally form relationships with the wish families and share her passion for helping their kids.
“It’s such a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet the wish families. Just talking to them and their children is so heartwarming for all of us in Chi Omega,” McAuliff said.
This year’s annual March Madness took place on Saturday, April 1. With 23 raffle baskets, numerous local businesses around Bloomington-Normal donated. All proceeds from the raffles went to the Make-A-Wish foundation.
“At March Madness, we recognize an honorary wish child every year, and this year we honored an honorary wish family. All three children in the family suffer from a critical illness and have either received a wish or are in the process of receiving one,” McAuliff said. “Chi Omega gives all the Make-A-Wish children who attend the event a gift, which is generously donated by local businesses. There were more than 30 wish children this year!”
McAuliff has received a job offer to become the Make-A-Wish Illinois community events coordinator after graduation. The courses she has taken in the School of Communication have given her the confidence to take on a role of this magnitude.
“The skills I learned from my degree in public relations have helped me maintain positive relationships and a positive reputation for my organization here at ISU and Make-A-Wish,” said McAuliff.
McAuliff has always taken this position very seriously and has made sure to stay on top of her many tasks. Her sophomore year, she shadowed the assistant to the March Madness chairwoman. Junior year, she became the assistant to the chairwoman—and now in her senior year of college, she serves as the head chairwoman.
“Not only do I have to effectively communicate with the other members of my chapter, but also with other chapters on campus, local businesses, the CEFCU Arena workers, and the Make-A-Wish organization,” McAuliff said.
As she prepared for the 2023 March Madness Show, she gathered all the skills she learned in the School of Communication with her. McAuliff successfully spoke in front of 3,000 people at this year’s event.
