The 15th annual JSC Phone-a-Thon, an effort to solicit donations from alumni to benefit the JSC general fund, will begin March 9 and run through the end of the month.
As in the past, students will be making the calls, according to Associate Director of Development and Alumni Relations Evan Smith, who is in charge of running the event this year. “Primarily it’s to connect with alumni, parents, and friends and to seek annual fund donations,” he said.
Between 10 and 20 students are recruited to make the phone calls. Students are paid around $8 an hour to contact JSC alumni, find out what they are doing, update them on recent campus developments, and ask for donations to the fund.
“The hardest part about it is picking up the phone and making the first call,” Smith said. “After that you have an immediate bond because you’re talking to people who know about the college. That’s what makes it fun.”
According to Smith, the amount raised has been increasing each year. Last year, around $27,000 was raised. Students will be calling four nights a week throughout March, attempting to raise $30,000.
The general fund is used where JSC finds the greatest need for it. “It could go to library books, athletics, scholarships – wherever the president directs it to go,” Smith said. “It could be used in any number of ways.”
Smith is still looking for more students to be involved in the event. Interested students should contact him in Martinetti Hall by Feb. 27. “If students have done it in previous years, then that’s great because they’re experienced, but if they haven’t done it before and would like to try it, come see me. I would love to talk to them,” he said.