Taylor Trovillion, a junior in the College of Communication, first got involved with the March of Dimes on a national level six years ago because of her own life experiences.
Now, she is making a difference in the lives of newborns as vice chair of the March of Dimes National Youth Council and by working with Marquette students and youth nationwide in an effort to help ensure babies are born healthy.
March of Dimes is a national health charity whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality rates, according to the March of Dimes website.
“My sister and I were both born prematurely, and my mom had complications with both pregnancies,” Trovillion said.
Trovillion led a March of Dimes group at her high school and organized youth lobby days. She traveled to Washington, D.C., her senior year for legislative visits and lobbied for the Preemie Act.
The Preemie Act was passed in 2006 and written “to reduce preterm labor and delivery and the risk of pregnancy-related deaths and complications due to pregnancy, and to reduce infant mortality caused by prematurity,” according to the govtrack.us website.
“Lobbying is the most rewarding thing I have done with the March of Dimes,” Trovillion said. “Convincing legislators to help save babies, use their power, and actually getting them to do it is great.”
Trovillion helps raise awareness for the mission and create programs for volunteers nationwide while working on the National Youth Council.
She introduced March of Dimes at Marquette through working with Circle K-Marquette, and creating the fundraiser “Bagels for Babies.”
Marquette’s Greek Life is sponsoring its first event to help March of Dimes today, by selling “baby” hot wings under the Raynor Library bridge from 11 a.m. to noon, and hosting a “Bowling for Babies” Nintendo Wii tournament tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Union.
Allison Hauser, associate director of National Youth Leadership Development, has known Trovillion since 2006.
“Taylor fully knows and understands the mission, and she does a great job of explaining the mission to other volunteers,” Hauser said.
Lisa Lazzari, coordinator of National Youth Leadership Development, met Trovillion for the first time in July. Lazzari said Trovillion is always willing to help and provide support for other council members and staff.
“She is very passionate, hard working and very friendly,” Lazzari said. “She always makes sure that everyone is involved and has a great time.”
Hauser said if Trovillion could be described in one word, it would be “empathizer.”
She said Trovillion really understands what their mission is all about, and she can identify with families or children who were preemies because she was one herself.
“Working with March of Dimes has changed my life by instilling a strong work ethic in me,” Trovillion said.
Trovillion said working with the council has given her the opportunities to travel across the country and meet some influential and accomplished citizens such as Olympian Kerri Strug and sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel.
“I am obviously not performing heart transplants or anything like that, but I feel like if I have taught just one college student why the March of Dimes is important, then that is awesome,” Trovillion said. “I also hope to have taught Marquette students the value of finding a cause — any cause.”
