The War Room

Every fall until the beginning of November, the basement room at Colonial Hall is filled five nights a week with students, importuning alumni for support.

Brynn Buskirk ’04 is in charge of this Herculean effort, which goes on from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays.

The phonathon’s goal this year is to raise $245,000 for scholarships, projects, and operating expenses of the College and Seminary. The phoners are workstudy students. Often they bring fraternity or sorority comrades. On nights when special programs are featured, members of Greyhound teams or Seminary or M.B.A. students might lend a hand to fundraising efforts for their areas.

Most of the people are polite, even when turning down a request for money, say the callers. Rejections come from those who screen their calls with answering machines or caller ID.

The wire mesh visible behind some of the students is not to keep them in. They are storage cages for the offices in Colonial.

Below, some of the faces on a typical night.

Footnotes:

• Managers (on this night, Allison Boyd and Laura Sahlender) keep track of paperwork.
• This was the first night for Leliveld Emeni, who was being trained.
• Sheila Lill, who was training Leliveld, is last year’s high scorer, having brought in more than $16,000.

Katherine Gallagher ’09 and Christina Grimm ’09

Ashley Alvernes ’08

Managers Allison Boyd ’08 and Laura Sahlender ’07

Donna Smith ’08

Sheila Lill ’08

Jen Bajczyk ’08

Leliveld Emeni ’08

Kelly Santry ’08

Katie Sisco ’08 and Pat Bechtel ’07

Mike DePaola ’08 and Dan Bobick ’08

Veronica Williams ’08, Veronica Howell ’06, and Marissa Sharon ’07

Ronak Parikh ’09 and Nick Ospa ’07

Photos: Brynn Buskirk ’04