In Our DNA

I can’t remember a time when UConn didn’t loom large in my life. My family, of course, rooted for Husky basketball — the photo above was taken on March 22, 1990, just hours before my mom witnessed in person “The Shot,” Tate George’s iconic buzzer-beater that sent UConn to the Elite Eight over Clemson. We have home movies of my brother, Mom, and me visiting campus after the 1999 men’s basketball championship. And my mother has always shared stories of her glory days in Fairfield Hall in the early ’80s. The opportunities she had and friends she made at UConn settled under her skin, as much a part of her as her freckles and brown eyes. (She also met my dad here — thanks, UConn, for my very existence.)

At the start of my own college search, I resisted my state school. I toured universities based on their journalism programs. Each time, it seemed, I’d cross the school off my list for not having the feel I was looking for. And then I went to a UConn open house. The feeling of being on a quintessential New England college campus grabbed me instantly, and after a day of taking tours and hearing from students, I was all in.

Over the last 20 years, UConn has become a part of my identity, too, giving me multiple degrees, lifelong friends, and my career. On my graduation day, I proudly posed in Gampel for pictures with my mom, Mary (McCarthy) Stagis ’85 (CLAS), and her eldest and youngest sisters, Peggy McCarthy Berman ’72 (CLAS) and Patrice (McCarthy) Attolino ’87 (CLAS). Now, I bring my son, Jack, to visit the cows on Horsebarn Hill, taste Dairy Bar ice cream, and cheer on the Huskies. I hope that in 13 years he will become a third-generation Husky himself.

When our former University Communications colleague Leonard Blanks Jr. ’86 (SFA) told us his uncle graduated in 1959 and his great-niece was about to earn her second UConn degree, our ears perked up. Read our story about his four-generation UConn family, which also includes his daughter, Courtney. We know that Leonard’s and mine are just two among many multigenerational Husky families, and we’d like to hear about yours.

Email me at julie.bartucca@uconn.edu and we may feature you in a future issue.