Volunteer Spotlight
Senior Class Gift Committee
During her sophomore year at Trinity, public policy and law major Demetra Danas ’26 began searching for an on-campus job. She quickly found a position as a student advancement officer and discovered that she enjoyed the work. “I love connecting with people,” says Danas. “I love the people I worked with in the Advancement Office, and when my senior year came around, I was asked to spearhead the Senior Class Gift Campaign.”
An annual fundraising initiative, the Senior Class Gift Campaign is led by members of the senior class, with the goal of making a monetary contribution to the Trinity College Fund to have a positive impact on the College and to help sustain the Trinity experience for future generations.
Danas accepted the volunteer chair position and was joined on the Senior Class Gift Committee by Ronita Murseli ’26, Thai An Rosario ’26, and Samantha Slofkiss ’26.
Murseli, an engineering major from Kosovo with a concentration in electrical engineering, notes that she feels a sense of gratitude toward Trinity and a responsibility to give back to the community. “I always imagined that would happen later in life, after graduating and becoming established in my career, so being able to contribute while still a student felt especially meaningful,” she says.
Murseli served as president of the College’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and hopes to build a career as an electrical engineer in the power industry, particularly in areas related to grid stability and energy infrastructure.
For Rosario, a public policy and law major from Massachusetts with a minor in English, “Being a part of the Senior Class Gift Committee was a meaningful way to connect with both new and familiar members of my class during my final year at Trinity,” she says. “Being able to help organize the fundraising campaign for the Class of 2026 was a great way for me to play an active role in giving back to the school that provided me with this wonderful community.”
Rosario now works for a juvenile defense attorney while completing the law school application process. She hopes to begin her legal studies in fall 2027 and to continue pursuing her passion for public service and law.
Slofkiss, an economics major with a formal organizations minor, described serving on the committee as “one of the most unexpected joys” of her Trinity experience. She also played on the women’s basketball team, was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and was a co-founder and vice president of Trinity’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).
“[The committee] was more than just an extracurricular opportunity but rather one to connect deeper with my classmates and learn the value in giving back to the place that gave us so much,” says Slofkiss, who is from New Jersey. “I am grateful to have met and collaborated with so many incredible people, especially my fellow committee members.” She began her job as a risk analyst in Boston in August.
The four led an effort that saw nearly 70 percent of the class coming together to give back to the College, the highest participation rate since before the pandemic.
On the Saturday before Commencement, the committee presented Trinity President Daniel G. Lugo with a check for $8,469 on behalf of 365 donors from the Class of 2026.
Danas, for one, is taking her fundraising background into the future. After all she has done at Trinity, she says, she realized that she wanted to continue working in the field after graduation. She accepted a job in advancement at Phillips Academy in her hometown of Andover, Massachusetts. “This experience really confirmed what I want to do with my career,” says Danas. “The student advancement officer job kind of fell into my lap on Handshake [Trinity’s job and internship database], and, ever since, I realized that I enjoy the work and I’m actually pretty good at it.”
By Ian Rothenberg
Photo by Nick Caito
