{"id":4953,"date":"2025-10-06T08:48:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=4953"},"modified":"2026-01-20T09:39:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:39:58","slug":"what-difference-can-i-make","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018What difference can I make?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Andrew J. Concatelli \nPhotos by Nick Caito<\/p>\n
More than 1,200 Trinity students participated in academic or co-curricular engagement in the city of Hartford in the past academic year, according to the College\u2019s Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER).<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity engagement is essential to strengthening the bonds between Hartford\u2019s diverse communities and Trinity College,\u201d says Liliana Polley, IDP\u201921, M\u201923, executive director of CHER. \u201cOur students are at the heart of this effort, facilitating a meaningful exchange of knowledge and resources that creates lasting benefits for both the community and the College. Through this engagement, we aim to enhance research, respond to community priorities, enrich teaching and learning experiences, and tackle the pressing issues our society faces together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students are involved in each of the core programs coordinated by CHER: Community Learning; Community Service and Civic Engagement; the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA) Partnership; the Liberal Arts Action Lab; and Trinfo, a neighborhood gathering space, computer lab, and community garden.<\/p>\n
Breanna Pitta \u201927 notes the benefit that Trinity students gain from living in an urban area. \u201cHartford is truly our home; we\u2019re here for four years,\u201d Pitta says. \u201cI think it\u2019s a huge disservice to oneself and one\u2019s education to not go out and explore it. I think Trinity and its students have a responsibility to give back to the community that homes us. Serving the community has been a huge part of my time here. The way I look at it is, What difference can I make?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitta is one of three students the Reporter contacted to gain insight into those dedicated to community service in Hartford.<\/p>\n
Aida Haile \u201927<\/h2>\nAida Haile \u201927 outside the Park Street Library @ the Lyric, where she volunteered in an endeavor to increase voting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
After learning about the impact of community service from her family in Philadelphia, Haile was president of her high school\u2019s Service League Organization and nurtured a passion for bringing people together in support of important causes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial justice and advocacy work are my motivations for what I\u2019m studying and how I am on a daily basis,\u201d says Haile, a double major in public policy and law and human rights studies who is connected to Hartford through several Trinity programs. \u201cBeing active in Hartford is what you make it,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are abundant opportunities, organizations, communities, and individuals in Hartford who are passionate about the place they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through the Community Action Gateway, Haile engaged with the city through community-based research and social change projects in her first year at the College. Her research on Hartford Changemakers in partnership with Hartford Public Library and other archival resources included interviews with family members of local historical figures. \u201cIt was a great way to expose myself to the community as someone new to Hartford,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Haile joined Trinity\u2019s Community Care Project as its food recovery co-chair in spring 2025. The student-led group brings food from Mather Dining Hall to the ImmaCare shelter each Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most meaningful interactions I have every week,\u201d Haile says. Her work with the Garden Groupies club this year involved spring cleanups across Hartford, including at the Trinfo community garden adjacent to campus.<\/p>\n
As part of her work with the Public Humanities Collaborative in summer 2024, Haile worked with Assistant Professor of Political Science Dang Do on an open resource book to teach residents about state politics and the legislative process. She also participated in last year\u2019s \u201cvoter\u00a0captain\u201d campaign led by Do and Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Law Abigail Fisher Williamson. \u201cThe aim was to have each \u2018captain\u2019 we trained get 20 members of their family or communities to vote, causing a chain reaction,\u201d Haile says. \u201cIt was a perfect combination of my interests in political advocacy and working in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haile also supports high school students as a tutor and mentor at HMTCA. \u201cThe students are genuinely the highlights of my day. It\u2019s rewarding to see the students\u2019 academic and personal growth throughout the school year,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work is never really done,\u201d she adds. \u201cIf we want Trinity to be open for everyone, you have to be intentional with the work you\u2019re doing and the impact you want to leave. In my next two years at Trinity, I aim to be intentional and grateful to a community and city that exposed me to amazing opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thaddeus Hempel \u201927<\/h2>\nThaddeus Hempel \u201927 at the Legislative Office Building, where he participated in efforts supporting the child tax credit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Hempel grew up engaging in community service projects; his dedication to supporting the public good led him to become an Eagle Scout.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can spend two hours playing a video game or going out and helping someone, it always feels better to help,\u201d says Hempel, a mathematics major and philosophy minor from Storrs, Connecticut. \u201cCommunity service is humbling, and it\u2019s an easy way to connect and make a difference, person by person. I\u2019ve had the opportunity to really make a change. It\u2019s one of the things I\u2019m the proudest of in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his first year at Trinity, Hempel joined the Liberal Arts Action Lab, which pairs Hartford community partners with student and faculty teams from Trinity and Capital Community College on semester-long research projects. \u201cI found a place where I could be myself and be involved,\u201d he says of the Action Lab. \u201cI was part of the Family Finance Project. We did research and connected with people about a potential Connecticut child tax credit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work included interviewing Hartford residents about their financial situations. \u201cOne interviewee, Maria, had us to her house for dinner with her and her son. We had a nice chat, like we were part of her family,\u201d Hempel says. The team brought what they learned to state legislators and spoke at a press conference about the tax credit. \u201cI felt empowered, and I had the chance to use that empowerment to empower others as well,\u201d says Hempel, whose work on the tax credit continued with the United Way.<\/p>\n
Like Haile, Hempel also tutors students at HMTCA. \u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed engaging with the youth. It feels very productive and helpful,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a different kind of community service. Instead of larger communities, you\u2019re making a personal difference in someone\u2019s life; it\u2019s one of the most special things you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Hempel declared a major in math, he thought he might become a consultant or a banker, but, he says, \u201cI\u2019m about as far from that as I could be now. I\u2019m interested in working with people\u2014either one-on-one like at HMTCA or broad lobbying work like I\u2019ve done with the Action Lab.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hempel says that going on runs through the city gives him new perspectives as he talks with Hartford residents along the way. \u201cWe can feel so separate, but we\u2019re really so close together,\u201d he says. \u201cTrinity is located in the middle of a lively community with a lot going on. Whether it\u2019s through Cinestudio or programs involving people off campus, I feel like it\u2019s very easy for Trinity students to engage with the Hartford community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breanna Pitta \u201927<\/h2>\nBreanna Pitta \u201927, donning her lucky game-day T-shirt, on the fields of Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Volunteering has been part of Pitta\u2019s life since she was young, she says. She has helped to organize a benefit soccer tournament for a coach diagnosed with brain cancer, tutored children in immigrant\u00a0families, and went on a service trip to Rwanda, where she volunteered at a school for orphaned and vulnerable children. \u201cVolunteering,\u201d Pitta says, \u201cis something that\u2019s always been important to me, and it\u2019s how I choose to spend my time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming to Trinity as a Presidential Scholar, Pitta also was interested in opportunities outside of the classroom. Being part of the Community Action Gateway in her first year at Trinity gave her an immediate connection to Hartford, where she is involved in many groups and activities.<\/p>\n
Pitta is pursuing majors in environmental science and public policy and law, in addition to a minor in community action. \u201cMy brain is pretty science focused, but I want to do something more community facing with my life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
To that end, Pitta is a tutor for high school students at HMTCA and is president of Trinity\u2019s student community service club, JELLO. \u201cWe help out at the Wadsworth Atheneum\u2019s \u2018Second Saturday\u2019 family events, volunteer at Place of Grace Food Pantry twice a week, and have our \u2018Week of Service\u2019 in January, when we work with organizations in the Hartford community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Pitta\u2019s favorite part of the past year, she notes, was serving as a head coach for HMTCA\u2019s middle school soccer team. While she captains Trinity\u2019s women\u2019s club soccer team, she missed coaching younger players, as she did for years in her hometown of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to make someone love soccer as much as you love soccer,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Alongside Eulalia Esquenet \u201927, Pitta guided 20 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders\u2014some of whom did not know how to kick a ball at first\u2014all the way to the league championship game. \u201cIt was amazing; I was so proud of them,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce they understood that I cared about them a lot, they cared about the team a lot, and I think that\u2019s what led to our success.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Pitta\u2019s academic work has led to research opportunities in all three of her fields of study, her career aspirations are in environmental justice or policy, which combine several of her interests. \u201cI have opportunities to share my scientific findings with the community and have them actually mean something,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Pitta says her time at Trinity has helped her understand how deeply intertwined environmental issues and social issues are and adds, \u201cIt\u2019s shown me the importance of community.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Andrew J. Concatelli Photos by Nick Caito More than 1,200 Trinity students participated in academic or co-curricular engagement in the city of Hartford in the past academic year, according to the College\u2019s Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER). \u201cCommunity engagement is essential to strengthening the bonds between Hartford\u2019s diverse communities and Trinity College,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":4927,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-reporter-article.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4953","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","reporter_issue-fall-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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Concatelli Photos by Nick Caito More than 1,200 Trinity students participated in academic or co-curricular engagement in the city of Hartford in the past academic year, according to the College\u2019s Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER). \u201cCommunity engagement is essential to strengthening the bonds between Hartford\u2019s diverse communities and Trinity College,\u201d […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Trinity Reporter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T14:39:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/143\/2025\/09\/Aida-Haile-Magazine-Students-in-Hartford-Portraits-02.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018What difference can I make?\u2019 - The Trinity Reporter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/143\/2025\/09\/Aida-Haile-Magazine-Students-in-Hartford-Portraits-02-200x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-06T12:48:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-20T14:39:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/143\/2025\/09\/Aida-Haile-Magazine-Students-in-Hartford-Portraits-02.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/143\/2025\/09\/Aida-Haile-Magazine-Students-in-Hartford-Portraits-02.jpg\",\"width\":399,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Aida Hale \u201927\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Trinity Reporter Fall 2025\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Features\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"\u2018What difference can I make?\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/\",\"name\":\"The Trinity Reporter\",\"description\":\"The Trinity College alumni magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018What difference can I make?\u2019 - The Trinity Reporter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2025\/features\/what-difference-can-i-make\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018What difference can I make?\u2019","og_description":"By Andrew J. 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