WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J– Monmouth University participated in this year’s Victoria’s Secret PINK Nation contest and through the collective efforts of the Monmouth University student body, MU rose through the ranks to a top ten spot in the contest.
Victoria’s Secret PINK is well known for their comfortable sweats, cute swimwear and their popularity among women. Every year PINK hosts a contest with the goal of creating a new collegiate line for schools. More than 50 schools participate in this contest in the hopes of having Victoria’s Secret participate in their Welcome Week offering free gifts and fun activities.
The incoming class of 2018 got involved. The freshman girls joined together, and with the help of Facebook and Instagram, Monmouth moved up quickly. The Class of 2018 realized that they could not do it alone so they requested the help of Monmouth University upperclassmen, including female fans of PINK and the male MU population, with the hopes of getting all of MU involved.
“I was extremely excited because I was always a fan of PINK and I was so excited to have a chance to get my favorite school’s logo and colors on PINK clothing,” said Freshman Alexis Mason.
The hard work and campaigning paid off. In less than a week Monmouth University moved from being placed in the mid 200’s to being in the 20’s. By the time the contest ended on July 1, 2014, Monmouth University was ranked 6th, going up against larger public schools including University of Arkansas, Texas A&M and Baylor University.
Ultimately Florida State University won the PINK Nation contest, with University of Florida coming in second. The contest is won only by number of students who sign up for their school , but the contest does not take into consideration the number of students per school. According to statistics provided by Petersons, an online college search website, Florida State University has a student population of more than 32,000 students for undergraduate while Monmouth has about 4,600 undergraduate students.
On July 8, Victoria Secret revealed a list of schools that would be included in their line of collegiate apparel and Monmouth University was not included on that list. This year Victoria Secret added Baylor University, Boise State University, Brown University, Columbia University, Fresno State University, Georgetown University, University of Hawaii, Iowa State University , University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Oxford University , University of Pennsylvania , San Diego State University , Southern Methodist University and Vanderbilt University.
“I was so angry when I learned that Monmouth wouldn’t receive the collegiate line. It was so unfair, and everything we worked hard for vanished in an instant,” stated Freshman Alexandra Alanso.
Freshman Nicolette Ann Pezza was also severely disappointed. “I was extremely excited during the challenge! All of the MU girls really came together and worked really hard to get us from #221 to #6! I was more upset about all the hard work all the girls put into the contest. We all put so much effort into it and really wanted to make it happen and it would have been a great reward to our Monmouth pride.”
Several of the girls emailed and messaged Victoria Secret and they all received the same automatic message that read the following. “Thank you for reaching out. We appreciate your passion for our collegiate collection! The Victoria’s Secret PINK Collegiate Collection includes a variety of products from several schools as a result of our exclusive collegiate licensing partnerships. We are enthusiastic about the program which continues to be a work in progress. Your opinion matters to us and will be part of the ongoing assessment of our future offerings. We continually strive for excellence in both our merchandise and our customer experience. Thank you for reaching out.”
In order for Monmouth to be featured in the collegiate line, Monmouth University must work directly with Victoria Secret in a partnership. Until then all Monmouth students can do is hope their pride one day pays off .
“Even though Monmouth will not receive a collegiate line for Victoria’s Secret, I still am unbelievably proud of the place that we came in. Sure, everyone likes to win, but Monmouth won something so much bigger. Teamwork. Teamwork has gotten me close to so many of the Monmouth girls before college is even starting. I am so glad that when I posted the Victoria’s Secret challenge to our Facebook group, we automatically came together as one and started brainstorming strategies of how we could win. Trying is one of the most important things to me, and you never know where you will end up if you don’t try,” said Freshman Tianna Fougeray.
Monmouth University did not win a collegiate line but a bond was created between the Class of 2018 before they even met in person.
