Student Callers Link Alumni, Friends to UConn
For Shelli Boucher ’09, the UConn Phonathon is both a job and a forum for receiving valuable professional guidance. After completing her bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Boucher plans to attend dental school. As part of a recent calling drive, Boucher contacted UConn Health Center alumni who proved eager to provide advice for making it through school and beyond.
“I found people were interested in talking to me and were thrilled to hear I plan to attend dental school. I really learned from hearing about their experiences in school and in practice,” she says.
Boucher’s story likely appeals to alumni because of her readily apparent dedication to her studies. A member of UConn’s Predental Society, Boucher is also involved in undergraduate research on a team comprising faculty and students from the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Periodontology. The team is researching periodontal pathogens and their potential links to heart disease, and Boucher relishes her work.
One of the Phonathon’s most important functions is to reconnect alumni with current happenings at the University. The success of this mission is ensured by students like Boucher and the enthusiasm they bring to their contact with those outside Storrs. Over 4,000 first-time donors contributed through the Phonathon last year, and the program as a whole raised more than $1.7 million.
But the Phonathon’s benefits reach beyond reconnected alumni and extend to individual student callers, as Boucher notes. “I like talking to people; that’s why I took this job. That’s what I hope to do in dental school by becoming a specialist, so the Phonathon is great preparation.”
