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Interview Date

8-15-2025

Interviewer

Amelia Clark; Melinda Marchand

Description

Elyse Darefsky grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, until the age of 12 when her family moved to West Hartford. Her father owned a tie making business, while her mother, who had attended college when she was only 16, began working as a legal secretary after spending time as a stay-at-home mom. In high school, Elyse had quickly decided she would major in math, but the challenge lied in finding a school that was the right fit for her. Her guidance counselor encouraged her to apply to Clark, and, while it was not her first choice, she accepted after receiving substantial aid. In this interview, Elyse details her years at Clark, including how she discovered a love for computer science as well as unique stories regarding her time on the women’s basketball and volleyball teams. After graduating, Elyse worked in the IT department at Connecticut Life Insurance Company, but still found time to return to Clark as the volleyball head coach for six years. Clark remains an important part of Elyse’s life to this day by being part of the alumni association. Attending Clark, Elyse says, changed her life. Her words of advice – "get involved.”

The Women of Clark oral history interviews follow the Worcester Women's Oral History Project rules. This means interviews are only edited to remove "ums" and "ahs". There have been no other edits made.

The transcript for this oral history is available as a supplemental file for this work. 

Type

audio; text

Genre

oral history; interview transcript

Format

mp3; pdf

Language

English

Location

Worcester, MA

Duration

01:03:28

Keywords

Worcester, Clark University, oral histories, women, women's history

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