Volunteer Description:

The Alumni Admissions Support Program consists of a network of nearly 1,400 alumni admissions volunteers across the country. These volunteers act as ambassadors for the college and play an integral role in our successful recruitment efforts. Alumni volunteers not only promote the cause of Trinity, but they also provide useful information throughout the college selection process to students and their families. Alumni admissions volunteers show their support for Trinity through such events as prospective student receptions, college fairs, interviewing prospective students, visiting their local high schools, and making phone calls to prospective and admitted students. This past year the college received 5,400 applications from students around the world and from this we enrolled a class of around 575 students. The volunteers of the Alumni Admissions Support Program helped shape this class by attending over 100 college fairs and conduction hundreds of interviews. We have set ambitious goals for the coming year and hope to increase the number of prospective students who profit from interaction with one of our knowledgeable volunteers!

For more information about becoming an admissions volunteer contact Shana Russell '01 at 860-297-4124 or at shana.grannan@trincoll.edu

Living the Trinity Alumni Admission Volunteer Experience: 

My academic and social life experience at Trinity College was one that I sincerely wish for future generations to experience, and this wish is being turned into reality for me as a Trinity Alumni Admissions Volunteer.

Back in 2000, I asked myself, “Aside from monetary gift giving, what other ways can I give back to benefit the needs of the college?” A couple of months later, I answered my question by signing on board the Trinity
Express as an admissions volunteer.

Over the past six years, I have conducted prospective student interviews at my worksite, represented Trinity at public and private high school fairs located all over New York City, and kept in direct contact
with the admission officers. Being a volunteer allows you to relive the Trinity experience by sharing with future students what the college has to offer and what they can gain from a four year liberal arts education.
I have had many opportunities where I delve into my fondest memories as a student through recollection of special events stemming from talking to famous authors and activists such as Cornell West and Maya Angelou
in Hamlin Hall to my participation in the African Dance Extravaganza Show at the Austin Arts Theater. These recollections also allow students to become actively engaged in conversation and raise their level of curiosity
about the Trinity curriculum.

Another great experience was going back to my high school alma mater, Saint Vincent Ferrer High School, to represent Trinity at college night. I knew attending college night served a great purpose the minute I met
the younger sister of one of my fellow classmates, Kimberly Crespo, Class of 1996. It was so pleasing to know that another Saint Vincent Ferrer graduate was on her way towards the “Long Walk” to keep her family
tradition going and to become enriched with a strong undergraduate education. This moment was one of the highlights of my experience as an admission volunteer.

Currently, I feel the most critical contribution that I have been making as an admissions volunteer is making students aware that Trinity admissions does not only focus and concentrate on a stellar SAT score or cumulative GPA, but on the whole student academic “package,” which includes strong recommendations, a creative essay, and positions held in clubs or groups during high school. More students are now aware that
Trinity is an environment where they can learn to manage high academic standards while being enriched by different cultures within student society. Through prospective student interviews, the opportunity to bring
forth this type of awareness about being a Trinity student is at its highest because that one-on-one interaction is crucial for highlighting Trinity’s greatest attributes.

In a nut shell, being an admissions volunteer for Trinity allows an alumnus to open doors to a place where he or she has dwelled before and creates a stronger hope in students that wish to become part of the Trinity
experience. If I had to suggest to people one of the greatest ways to give back to your college, serving as a Trinity College Admission Volunteer would be at the top of the list.

Jamila Harris
Class of 1996
                                                                           November 2006