Hold the phone! It’s CC calling

Matt Magida ’07

Katie McLinn ’06 likes to talk on the phone.

So when she started her hunt for a job on campus in the fall of her freshman year, signing up to call alumni on behalf of Connecticut College’s Annual Fund seemed a good match for her friendly and easy-going personality.

“I like that I'm always talking to new people,” McLinn explained, whether it is alumni or fellow student callers. “It never gets old.”

The phonathon is one component of the College’s Annual Fund, where donations are solicited from alumni to support costs not fully covered by tuition, including financial aid, student organization fees and faculty salaries. This year, the goal of the phonathon is to raise $325,000 of the $3.3 million target.

Students make calls from October through May in a series of four sessions. The fourth round began last week. Students work two-hour evening shifts from Sunday to Thursday and on Sunday afternoons, which allows time for anywhere from 40 to 60 calls. As of April 13, callers have raised $204,116 over 65 shifts.

The best part of the job?

“Talking to alumni connects me to the school and its history,” McLinn said.

The worst?

“Making 60 calls and getting 57 answering machines,” said Matt Magida ’07, lamenting the lack of human interaction.

But there are plenty of aspects of the job that keep it interesting and fun, too — like unusual answering machine messages with the sound of orca whales in the background or children answering the phone for their parents. Snacks provided by College staff members also help students stay focused call after call.

Senay Tarhan ’08, Zeynep Gundogdu ’08 and Zach Cohen ’05 call alumni on behalf of the College's Annual Fund.

Magida was once able to reconnect old friends. While speaking with one alumna from the class of 1976, he mentioned that his mother, Renee Baumblatt Magida, had graduated from CC that same year.

“It turns out they were classmates and hadn't spoken since graduation,” he said.

McLinn once had a 45-minute conversation with an alumna who attended CC before it went coed. They talked about the school, what has changed, what has stayed the same and their personal interests.

“She was very sweet,” she said. “I made a new friend.”

There are 45 student callers and managers working the phones for the Annual Fund this semester. Callers need to be prepared for any question, McLinn said, and that means doing their homework on Connecticut College, its history and current programs. A 90-minute training session also helps.

In January, McLinn took on the role of student manager for the phonathon, and as a result makes fewer calls so that she can help other students on her shift.

“You’re responsible for setting the mood for the night,” she said. “You want callers to be upbeat, enthusiastic and proud of what they’re doing.”

Kate Stano, assistant director of annual giving, is responsible for coordinating the annual fund and hiring student workers.

“I don’t think a student caller needs to be an extrovert. But they need to have an enthusiasm for the institution,” she said.

Both McLinn and Magida exhibit that quality. McLinn is a double major studying government and environmental studies. She spent last semester in Belize, helped coordinate the Arbo Project, has served as a peer adviser and will be a housefellow next year as a senior.

Magida is an American studies major, a member of the student alumni association and editor of Koiné. He will study in Grenada in the fall.

McLinn said her phonathon experience has taught her a lot about Connecticut College and deepened her bond with the school.

“I’ll always be interested in what’s going on here, so when someone calls me (after I graduate),” she said, “I am going to be so excited to hear from them.”