The 2026 Charity Week Committee has recently announced the theme of this year’s festivities: the American Revolution.
The Charity Week committee is composed of juniors at the University of Dallas. They met earlier this semester to vote on the theme and picked the American Revolution. The committee is led by co-chairs politics major Michael Miller and politics/Spanish double major Adriana Terrazas.
When asked about the theme selection, Terrazas said, “American Revolution won in a landslide. The fact that it’s the 250th [anniversary of America’s founding] is entirely a coincidence. Multiple classes before us have considered the theme, but have never actually done it before.”
The co-chairs describe the experience of planning Charity Week as extremely rewarding. Miller said that “The most rewarding aspect of planning it so far has been the feeling that Adriana and I — along with our classmates — are finally really giving back to this great community that has been our home for the past couple years. It has been and will continue to be a lot of work, but is absolutely and completely worth it.”
Terrazas, on the other hand, anticipates that “the most rewarding thing is going to be giving the checks to these amazing charities!” while the most exciting bit will be “seeing the junior class come together for this week of fun! Our class has so many different interests, talents, and personalities, so I’m excited to see how we combine all of our creativity into making something great.”
Planning Charity Week brings many challenges, especially since both co-chairs have numerous other responsibilities and commitments as upperclassmen. Miller mentioned that finding the correct personnel is important. “The most difficult part of Charity Week is fully utilizing the immense and diverse talent in the junior class. We have a lot of fantastic individuals with varying abilities to contribute due to other commitments and responsibilities. They are all, however, really excited and hungry to help as much as possible. Finding the right combinations of the right people for each task and event is definitely a real challenge.”
The event will raise money for two local charities: GOLD and St. Francis Montessori. Terrazas said that “GOLD is the Gospel of Life Disciples and Dwellings. They provide hospice care for the elderly who don’t have family or friends to take care of them in their final days. The organization has a meaningful connection to the University of Dallas through alumni, faculty, donors, board members and volunteers.”
She mentioned that St. Francis Montessori also has a strong UD connection and that “they provide children with a strong faith and moral character formation.”
When it comes to activities, Terrazas said, “This year’s events will include the traditional, beloved Charity Week events, such as Mystery Match and Male Auction, but will also include new ones based on historical events from 1776.”
Co-chair Miller mentioned that he looks forward to the faculty involvement in Charity Week this year, and said, “One of the best parts of Charity Week in my opinion is definitely the faculty involvement. This year I’m very excited to see what creative and wild ways the professors — especially the politics and history departments — will enrich Charity Week with the theme being the American Revolution.”
Dr. Susan Hanssen, associate professor of history whose specialty is in American and British history, expressed excitement about this year’s theme. She said, “I could definitely see some epic battles. It would be really fun to do a reenactment of [the] Crossing of the Delaware.”
In addition, Hanssen believes the theme fits very well with the University of Dallas’s founding by Cistercian monks who fled from Communist Hungary to the United States. “Our Hungarian Cistercian founders of the university gave their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor for the founding of the University of Dallas,” she said.
The event is also greatly anticipated by students on campus. One freshman computer science major whose parents attended UD described it like this: “I grew up reading my parents’ yearbooks […] and looking at all the pictures, especially of Charity Week […] specifically the jail time. I think that what I’m most excited for is seeing how people get involved in their community and getting outside of their comfort zones and […] just seeing the different personalities and quirky natures of everyone around campus really come to life.”
How should UD students prepare for this year’s Charity Week? When it comes to dressing for the occasion, Dr. Hanssen has thoughts. For gents: “Traditional revolutionary garb is silk hose and breeches. If you want to look like George Washington, you have to wear breeches. The American revolutionaries were not sans culottes. They would never be willing to be seen anywhere without their breeches. They would never wear pants, which are a working men’s garb. This was not a revolution of workers, this was a revolution of […] honorable gentlemen, so we should dress like honorable gentlemen.”
For ladies, Dr. Hanssen said, “Ladies, I think linen, homespun linen and homespun wool […] Please, no polyester, no silk, no fancy fabrics. We were boycotting all of the fancy fabrics and making our own linen. So … focus on that.”