If you need a reason to give back to UC San Diego, I can give you 10,175 of them.
That’s how many of your fellow alumni chose to give back this past year. They chose to support our students—young minds like you once were—students who are here now working to carve out the kind of lives we now enjoy as Tritons.
Maybe you’re young alumni, just starting out on that life. Maybe you’ve only recently graduated, and the future is uncertain. But you can start with a gesture—any amount you see fit, because what really matters is that you’re willing.
Or maybe you’re starting to feel good in that life. Your education is giving you the means to advance your career, maybe raise a family, and you’re gaining a broader perspective, seeing the difference you can make in matters you care about. But while some causes come and go, this university, and your place in it, will remain.
But maybe you’re like me. No, not old—let’s say established. I give back because I know I couldn’t have achieved professional success without the UC San Diego experience and education. And back when I was a student, the financial burden was far less—with less than seven percent of funding coming from the state of California, it is time for those of us who paid much lower fees (we didn’t call it tuition then) to help fill the gap and be a part of the Campaign for UC San Diego, supporting the next generation of Tritons.
Speaking of tuition, here are another 2,431 reasons: the number of students who found the generosity to give back even while they attend classes. I look at a number like that, and I think of the “1” right there at the end. How easily it could have been one fewer, except for one person who chose to be a part of something bigger.
There can always be one more. And that one is you.
With Triton pride,
Robert Brownlie ’85
President, UC San Diego Alumni
