Meet Rachel Buck, the Vice President of Fundraising for this year’s HuskyTHON.
Age: 21
Year: Senior
Major: Accounting
Hobbies: Baking, shopping, exercising, playing with my dog
How did you first get involved in HuskyTHON?
I first got involved with HuskyTHON through my sorority as a freshman. I was a dancer both freshman and sophomore year, and then a Morale Captain and Dancer Representative junior year. This is my first year being on the Management Team!
How did you get this position?
Applications for Management Team come out a few weeks after HuskyTHON each year. The applications consist of a short written application and then an interview. I chose to apply for Management Team because as a Morale Captain and Dancer Rep last year, I got to see more of the planning of the event and felt a lot more involved, and I wanted to be a bigger part of that this year. I’ve always enjoyed being a part of HuskyTHON and I wanted to be able to give back what it’s given to me.
What are your duties as VP of fundraising?
As Vice President of Fundraising, I coordinate many of the fundraising efforts for HuskyTHON. I oversee the Director of Strategic Fundraising (canning), Director of Donation Management, and Director of Corporate Sponsorship. I make the budget for the event, and I work with organizations on campus to help them meet their team and individual fundraising goals and get their donations logged online. I love my position because I get to work with just about everyone else on the Management Team in some capacity, as well as a lot of our dancers and team captains.
What advice can you give to people doing their first HuskyTHON?
My advice to someone new to HuskyTHON would be to at least try dancing for all 18 hours your first year. It sounds intimidating, but it really isn’t. You really get to enjoy the full experience by signing up to be a dancer and committing to dancing the entire night. The closing ceremonies are so much more powerful when you’ve literally stayed up all night waiting for them.
Any tips for handling the 18 hours of dancing?
Stay positive! Attitude is everything at HuskyTHON. The more you think about being tired or sore, the worse it gets. It’s important to remember WHY we dance – the kids that we’re supporting have been through more in their young lives than most of us have been through in our entire lives. It’s our job to make HuskyTHON nothing less than the best day of the year for them.
What is your favorite thing about being a husky?
My favorite part about being a husky is the pride that we all have. Having been here for four years, I’ve gotten to see basketball national championships, and I’ve gotten to be a part of three HuskyTHON events, which have raised an overall total of over a million dollars. UConn students are always so proud to get behind the things they care about and I’m so lucky to have been able to spend four years here.
What does HuskyTHON mean to you?
It’s really hard to put into a few words what HuskyTHON means. For me, it’s a lot more than just the night of HuskyTHON. We’ve spent the year working together to put together the best event we can imagine and the people that I’ve gotten to work with are truly some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. HuskyTHON is about our university coming together to make a better future for those kids who will be huskies next. We like to say it’s one generation fighting for the next. It’s about letting kids be kids, and letting these kids and their families know just how much they inspire us.
What is your favorite part about the experience?
My favorite part about the experience every year is the first hour of the night. The energy and morale in the room is so high as we invite the kids and their families in, and do the first morale dance. Because HuskyTHON is a year-long fundraiser that culminates in our 18-hour marathon, the night really is the peak of all of the hard work our dancers have put in. They get to see first hand the difference that they’re making and why it’s so important.