Who will I speak with – alumnus? Parent? Voicemail?
Only three shifts left of the 2018 telephone campaign! It seems like these past three weeks have just flown by, and even as we near the last few days of the telethon, I still feel the same tension and excitement after dialing a number. Who will I speak with – alumnus? Parent? Voicemail? Probably voicemail, it seems – I have reached a lot of voicemails by this point in the campaign – but each new dial represents a new opportunity, a new alumnus to reach out to and a new conversation to be had about Trinity Hall.
Even the alumni that I think I might have nothing in common with (many a financier and engineer have taken pity on my English-student-ignorance in explaining to me what their jobs actually entail), it is still possible to engage in enriching and meaningful conversations about their time and experiences at college and the Trinity Hall Fund. I have spoken to physics professors, Queen’s Counsels, former Goldman Sachs executives, teachers, actors, writers, and even a Stonemason – and despite our years apart and (sometimes extreme) differences in fields of work and study, sharing reminiscences of university experiences and college life at Trinity Hall creates a connection and often makes for easy conversation.
Each conversation is different, but one of the best chats I’ve had thus far has been with an alumnus now working as a teacher in the same state school he attended before coming to Cambridge to earn his PGCE. As someone with first-hand experience of the power of funding important projects for Access and Outreach, he was enthusiastically willing to make a generous monthly donation in the hope of affording others access to the same opportunities he had. As a graduate student, I find it especially rewarding to speak with former members of the MCR. Although I’ve only been at Trinity Hall for two terms now, it is so gratifying to speak to former MPhil students and find they still feel a strong connection to college, a testament to the geniality and collegiate atmosphere of Trinity Hall.
