“I only hear from you when you want money.” It’s a common refrain of alumni to their colleges and universities around the world.
That’s one of the reasons why Trinity College reaches out to alumni in many ways—through The Trinity Reporter magazine, alumni events across the country, and more recently by having student ambassadors phone alumni to thank them for their philanthropy.
Diana Dinu ’27 is one of Trinity’s student ambassadors. Athough she does spend some time asking for gifts, on a recent call to Ted Richardson ’04, she was delivering a message of thanks. And it happened to be her first day on the job. “I was so nervous,” she said. “But I thought I should try this and get out of my comfort zone. Talking to people I don’t know will help me prepare a lot for life.”
Though their conversation lasted a few minutes, Dinu was happy to learn that Richardson had majored in economics, a commonality between them. “When Ted picked up the phone, I was surprised he was so nice,” Dinu said. “He was so curious about campus life. He asked about his fraternity, about Greek life, and about the Economics Department.”
The alumnus enjoyed his conversation with the current student, as well. “She was very nice, courteous, well spoken,” said Richardson. “I wanted to help her out and I know that spam callers have ruined the phone business.”
So even though Dinu was calling that time just to say “thanks,” Richardson decided to make her day. “He asked me when the last gift was that he and his wife had made,” Dinu said. “When I told him, he said, ‘I’ll make my end-of-year gift now!’”
Dinu is one of 10 student ambassadors employed by Trinity. They are the voices alumni hear across the phone line. Often, like Dinu, they are nervous to be calling, even when they are just saying “thanks,” but especially when they need to ask for a gift.
Richardson’s generosity gave Dinu the courage and positivity to continue in the job and she now looks forward to hearing about more alumni experiences and about how Trinity impacted their lives. “It was great that I then had a chance to write him a thank you card,” Dinu said. “Saying ‘thank you’ is a beautiful, important touch, and I wanted him to know how grateful I was.”
