Students lead charge in alumni outreach program

With just under four months remaining in the College?s 2007-8 Annual Fund campaign, the College is moving into full swing in its outreach to alumni and parents ? and students are leading the charge.

Three nights and one afternoon per week, 18 students work in three-hour shifts to connect with alumni in an effort that?s essential to the College?s goal of reaching 40 percent participation, which equates to nearly 10,000 alumni donors and a $6.4 million goal. These dollars are put to immediate use in financial aid, the recruitment and retention of top faculty, and maintaining facilities for academics, the arts, and athletics.

For students, the experience is comparable to an intensive practicum in public speaking, except they address their audiences one at a time, says Erin Martinovich, director of the Annual Fund.

?These kids have to be self-assured,? she says. ?They have to be confident. They have to be knowledgeable. They have to have a thick skin. And they have to have a personal way about them that enables them to find a point of connection with every alum or parent they call.?

It?s this opportunity to connect with alumni that keeps students coming back. Three members of this year?s team of callers?Danielle Starr, Mike Reining, and Suxin Cheah ? are seniors who started as freshmen.

?I love it,? says Starr, a French major with minors in Art and Art History, who hails from Massachusetts. ?I?m always bragging about the school so I feel like I represent it well, and being part of a team makes it fun. We?re so enthusiastic about what we?re doing.?

What makes a great call?

?Sharing common interests,? Starr says. ?Maybe you?re both art history majors. Or maybe you?ve called a recent graduate, so you compare professors and classes. It?s really about connecting with whatever you see on their profile on the screen or what they tell you.?

Reining, a government major from Massachusetts, agrees. ?I find it really inspiring to see all the things that Skidmore alumni have gone on to do. And it reassures me that I?m getting a great education here at Skidmore.?

The calling experience, Reining adds, ?has helped me talk to complete strangers and try to find ways to connect with them. That often involves making small talk, but often I find I have something in common with them and that turns into a genuine conversation.?

Cheah, an Asian Studies major from Singapore, says she?ll never forget one conversation she had with a Skidmore alumna in California during a period when intense wildfires were ravaging that state. It was one of a number of calls the team made to alumni in areas affected by the fires?not to ask for contributions, but simply to express concern and support.

?I spent most of my shift talking with just her,? Cheah recalls. ?We knew what we were seeing in the news about these fires, but here she was give me a real-time report on what was happening. Being in college can sometimes feel insulating, but in this call we created a kind of bridge.?

Making these calls on the College?s behalf also gives students a better understanding of the importance of philanthropy, says Starr, who has become active with the Senior Gift Committee. ?Seeing alumni give back to the College really means a lot. It?s nice to see that people are able and willing to do that even when they don?t have a lot of money. I?m going to give back everything I can to the school.?