TigerTalk managers Madeleine Ricks, Renee Rochel and Kevin Oubre in the TigerTalk office
Ring Leaders Each fall and spring, LSU alumni throughout the U.S. pick up the phone and hear the voice of a student “TigerTalker” calling on behalf of the LSU Foundation. The callers—the next generation of LSU alumni—ask fellow Tigers to support annual fund programs campus-wide. Theirs is a popular job for those who want to work on campus in a student-heavy atmosphere where they can refine their interpersonal skills. “This really helps you learn to talk to people,” says Kevin Oubre, a recent political science graduate who became a TigerTalker after a peer recommended that he apply. Former TigerTalker Whitney Wilkerson shares, “The hardest part about TigerTalk is getting used to talking to complete strangers about money. I had always been shy on
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the phone before, and this job really forced me to open up and carry on a conversation with someone I couldn’t even see face to face.” Wilkerson was a TigerTalker throughout college and graduate school and is now a second-grade teacher at Iberville Parish Mathematics, Sciences, and Arts Academy West. She says, “It has helped me feel more comfortable talking with people, which is important as a teacher. I was also able to gain experience in management through my position as a student manager. This helped me get used to organizing schedules for people and controlling a group in a positive and cooperative manner.” Wilkerson fondly remembers the people with whom she worked and the potluck dinners they arranged to keep the work environment fun.
Cornerstone | Summer and Fall 2012 | LSU Foundation
Oubre echoes that sentiment, saying, “I really like the people. It’s a serious job, but we try to liven it up.” Wilkerson recalls, “While some calls were negative, most were received positively. I remember talking to a man who had graduated almost 50 years ago and was living in the New York area. He was so excited to talk to someone from LSU, which he hadn’t visited in nearly 30 years, that it was hard to get him off the phone!” “Our success is built off our alumni,” asserts Oubre, whose personal success ranks him in the top 10 TigerTalkers ever. Wilkerson is now on the receiving end of TigerTalk calls, while Oubre works full time as assistant director of LSU Funds, which includes the TigerTalk program. www.lsufoundation.org