By: Hannah Rodriguez
August 31, 2026
Hello HuskyTHON community! My name is Hannah Rodriguez and I am proud to be pioneering this initiative for the year, and hopefully many to come. When I stepped into the role of Vice President of Communications for HuskyTHON 2027, I was SEVERELY overwhelmed. In my panicked state, I decided to work through my emotions by writing, and because of that I got over my uncertainty and dove into my position head first.
Stepping into a role of this size for UConn’s largest student-run organization was no easy task, and I had quite the journey to get here. I started freshman year as a dancer, and was not heavily connected to the cause. Sophomore year is when everything changed for me, I was a Rising Leader, and became heavily involved in the organization’s mission. Junior year I became a Morale Captain, and Entertainment Captain, and fell even more in love with HuskyTHON. Supporting the Children’s Miracle Network, and Connecticut Children’s is one of the greatest privileges in the world, and I grow more proud to dedicate myself to this cause every year.
As I got more comfortable with my position, I discovered that our monthly newsletter emails in past years have had a 2% retention rate! That is STAGGERINGLY low. I decided that something had to change. Society is constantly evolving, so why can’t we? Our organization is meant to inspire others, and show people the joy in the little moments, as well as the work that goes into the big ones. This truly cannot be conveyed through an email.
The HuskyTHON blog allows you to keep up with the organization on a more personal level, and hear from different perspectives within the current organization. Most importantly, it is entirely optional! No more pesky emails that go straight to spam, it is a conscious choice for the people who want to keep up with us, to read our blog.
In addition to benefitting our readers, it also benefits us. The internal community that you will be hearing from over the next 10 months, is able to work through their emotions in writing, just like I was, and share the highlights and hard work that goes into their experience. We are able to share what HuskyTHON means to us, and how hard the community of students works daily to positively impact the patients and families at Connecticut Children’s.
It is not always easy to explain the magic of HuskyTHON to our families, friends, and people outside of the organization, but if we can spread the joy and impact that HuskyTHON has on us even for one person through writing, we will have successfully completed our mission.
I hope you all are excited for what is to come, because this is only the prologue…