I Just Called to Say “Thank You”
The Office of Alumni Relations and the Red and White Student Alumni organization recently conducted the first alumni volunteer “Thankathon.” In March, student members of Red and White—a group of student volunteers who serve as ambassadors for Rensselaer and represent the university to alumni, campus, and the community—contacted nearly one thousand alumni volunteers to offer a simple “thank you” for their service and commitment to Rensselaer.
Each year, the student group engages in a special project to help the Rensselaer community, and in particular the RAA. “We decided the Thankathon would be a great project for us this year,” said Cosmo Marfione ’00, co-president of Red and White. “Our members were excited to talk to alumni volunteers.”
Over the course of six days, 925 alumni —or 80 percent of the list of volunteers—were contacted. The students reached enrollment managers, mentors, board members, chapter leaders, and Reunion volunteers. New and former volunteers were called to recognize their many contributions and the important roles they have played in moving Rensselaer forward.
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“The call I received from the Rensselaer student thanking me for my volunteer efforts was a really nice surprise,” says Sandeep Nandy ’94. “I was not home the first time they tried to reach me, but the individual was persistent and called me a second time. In life, we don’t get a lot of compliments for completion of our daily tasks. It was a really nice gesture and made me feel appreciated and that my work matters.”
The program’s concept is simple: the best student volunteers contact the best alumni volunteers. According to David Bohan ’82, director of alumni relations, “The Thankathon was a big success, from both the alumni and student viewpoints.”
“I had to convince some of the alumni I spoke to that this was simply a call to say thanks—nothing more than that,” says Audra Baroni ’04. “It was a treat to make those thank you calls to our alumni.”
Alumni Datebook 
