Couple Gives Back to the Place that Invested in Them
Brett Schilkraut ’95 and Danielle Quilligan ’99 have Hartwick to thank for many of their fondest memories. Yet, they’re even more grateful for the new ones they share every day.
This Hartwick couple didn’t form in the most linear of ways. They met at Brett’s fraternity — after he graduated. Danielle had befriended his brothers, which led to their chance encounter. They became friends but went their separate ways. He married and settled in Connecticut; she did the same in Arizona and started a family.
However, when both found themselves single again many years later, they didn’t take long to realize they made a great team.
“We shared a lot of the same experiences,” said Brett, who asked Danielle to move to Connecticut, where he welcomed and helped raise her daughters, Taylor and Kaitlyn.
Brett Schilkraut ’95 and Danielle Quilligan ’99 with daughters Taylor and Kaitlyn.
Indeed, their common bonds ran deep, especially their on-campus leadership. Brett was a track-and-field athlete and team captain; co-founder of Hartwick’s Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity chapter, resurrecting it from its 1970s deactivation; and member of the Hawks’ 1992 football team — the College’s first since the program was reinstated after its own hiatus. The economics major also loved the performing arts. He played trumpet in several music ensembles and was part of three Hartwick J Term theatre performances — excluding only his junior year, when he studied abroad in Europe.
Danielle, an art/art history major, also looked to lead. She was president of the Pine Lake Environmental Club, Outing Club and Untitled Art Club; joined the Committee on Academic Standards; served as curator of the Coffeehouse Gallery; was a founder and curator of the annual Pine Lake Photography Contest; and worked as a peer tutor, admissions guide and department web designer.
Today, Brett works as a relationship manager for a financial services firm, while Danielle is the registrar at Fairfield University. The pair have remained highly engaged with their alma mater, including frequent True Blue Weekends and other reunions which they attended with their daughters. Thus, it was no surprise when Taylor, now 19, followed in their footsteps.
“It was entirely her choice. She looked at other schools, but nothing compared to Hartwick,” said Danielle.
They’re especially pleased to see Taylor, now entering her junior year, forging her own path. Still, her parental influences are unmistakable: she’s an environmental science major and admissions tour guide, inspired by Danielle — and she’s working to bring a one-time music sorority back to campus, just like Brett.
Meanwhile, Brett and Danielle still love to lead — such as the Hartwick Night at Yankee Stadium event they helped organize in June. They also lead events for TKE alumni (which now number close to 700), including its annual clambake and 25th anniversary celebration held in 2018 at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Ommegang Brewery.
Recently, the couple decided to be more intentional with their giving, establishing a charitable foundation. Its name? The 61 Elm Foundation…the address of the TKE house where they met.
“We have not limited our giving to Hartwick, but so far it has been our primary focus,” Danielle explained. “Supporting the place that has given our family so much just feels right.”
Those gifts include S.O.A.R Society leadership support of The Talon Trust to help create a state-of-the-art sports medicine facility. They have also given to the Art Department, to support its treasured Glass Blowing Studio as well as retiring professor Elizabeth Ayer’s scholarship fund. Danielle led a Class of ’99 matching gift challenge and the couple joined The Kellogg Society by including Hartwick in their estate planning.
“Hartwick’s people truly make the difference,” Brett emphasized. “They really care.”
He recalls one professor who actually called him after he missed a class one day, just to make sure he was OK.
“I never missed another one of his classes,” he laughed.
Fast forward to last year when Taylor got sick, had to go to an Oneonta hospital and hadn’t charged her phone. A staff member from Hartwick’s AccessAbility Services office went to the emergency room and stayed with her until she was seen by a doctor…and she brought Taylor a charger.
“I’ve worked in higher ed my whole career and I can tell you it’s highly unusual to see that level of kindness,” Danielle attested.
And as they’ll both tell you, that’s a place worth investing in.
For more information about the Together, We Soar campaign, visit www.hartwick.edu/togetherwesoar or contact the Office of Advancement at 607-431-4064 or [email protected].
