Scholarship celebration
Annual celebration recognizes donors who support student scholarships
2:07 p.m., May 4, 2016--Giving and gratitude were the dominant themes woven throughout the University of Delaware’s Celebration of Scholarship event, held April 20 at Clayton Hall. The annual celebration recognizes undergraduate scholarship support and the generosity of those who make that support possible.
The highlight of this year’s event was a panel of students who shared their thoughts on scholarship, philanthropy and college life with more than 300 donors, students and scholarship representatives.
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Panelist John Villari, a senior majoring in economics with minors in business administration and management information systems, recalled the excitement he felt receiving an email about his scholarship when he was still a UD applicant in high school.
“I was just ecstatic,” Villari said. “It showed that there are people [who] are interested in our success as students. One of my personal goals when I graduate is to start a fund so students like me can have that same feeling someone is looking out for them.”
Villari was joined on the panel by twin brother, Nick, a senior majoring in plant science, as well as sophomore history education major and Honors student Lisa Pham and junior foreign languages and literatures major Caitlin Blades.
Acting President Nancy Targett, who introduced the panel, acknowledged the long-lasting impact that scholarships can have on students. “[Donors are] enabling not only their education,” she told the crowd of donors and students, “but also all of the good things that flow from that education: their love of learning, their understanding of other people and cultures [and] their discoveries about who they are and how they can contribute to the world.”
Blades, who has spent the past year balancing studying abroad in Buenos Aires with the challenge of applying to medical school, echoed that sentiment by pointing to all the intangible benefits of earning a scholarship. “It gave me something I never had before – time,” she said. “Every student deserves the time to invest in themselves and to seek out knowledge wherever it’s found.”
For the next generation
Carolyn Klair, a UD alumna who established the Howard F. Klair Scholarship in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, agrees that scholarships provide so much more than just financial support. “[With funding], students can devote more time to their studies and their travel,” she said. “The sale of my father’s farm not only gave me the opportunity to [excel] at UD, but to establish a fund that can do the same for the next generation of students.”
After the panel, guests were invited into the Clayton Hall ballroom to enjoy Moroccan cuisine and sounds from the Blue Hen Jazz Trio. The reception offered donors a chance to mingle and chat with scholarship recipients and discuss the importance of academic achievement, gratitude and other college experiences.
As the evening progressed and the ballroom was filled with lively conversation, a common idea began to emerge among the guests: Giving is not a one-way street, but a long-lasting, mutual relationship that can leave a profound and indelible impact on both the recipient and the donor.
Alumni Traci Boddy and Terrance Bowman, board member and acting president of the Black Alumni Organization (BAO), respectively, were both awarded scholarships as students. In 2007, their organization established its own endowment fund, the Black Alumni Organization Scholarship. The fund is now expanding thanks to a crowdfunding effort that will help more students of color receive financial support and offset college expenses.
“People pour into you while you’re in school,” Boddy explained, “and it’s important to give back what you receive.”
Giselle Barkley, a sophomore nursing major, Honors student and recipient of the BAO Scholarship, is proof positive of the effectiveness of BAO’s efforts. “[The scholarship] lifts off a heavy burden,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about money, and I know somebody cares about me.”
Access to a quality education
For others, scholarships ensure that a greater number of students have access to a quality education. Richard and Meg Morgan, who in December established the first-ever endowed scholarship in the College of Earth, Ocean, & Environment (CEOE), cited the time and effort UD invested in their daughter, Leah, a senior majoring in marine science, as inspiration to empower other students to seek the benefits of a hands-on experience.
“It’s to help [students] who can’t do everything,” Richard Morgan said, recounting how the mentorship of Frank Newton, then assistant dean of undergraduate services in CEOE, altered the trajectory of his daughter’s undergraduate education. “Frank has been instrumental in our daughter’s adjustment to college. We wanted to give back so no [student] would miss out on that kind of diligence.”
David A. Plastino, an alumnus who serves as a member of the President’s Leadership Council and established the David A. Plastino Scholars fund, feels that giving is, in and of itself, an act of gratitude. “It’s about completing the circle,” he added. “You spend a third of your life learning, a third earning and a third returning. Giving back is about showing appreciation to the people who invested in you early on.”
The Celebration of Scholarship has crystallized that lesson for students in particular, emphasizing the importance of paying it forward. Blades, who holds the Evergreen Scholarship and Records Scholarship, credits both with helping her discover her life’s calling – providing healthcare to impoverished communities across the globe.
“My scholarships mean the world to me,” she said, “and I really want to take the investment donors made in me and turn it into a new one.”
About Celebration of Scholarship
The Celebration of Scholarship is an annual event to acknowledge and celebrate the generosity of undergraduate scholarship support at the University. Click here to learn more about establishing an endowed scholarship, or email annualgiving@udel.edu.
About Development and Alumni Relations
The Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) engages donors, alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff and students in a lifelong relationship and fosters a tradition of philanthropy to strengthen the University’s legacy as one of the great public institutions of higher education in America.
Article by Kevin Liedel
Photo by Ambre Alexander Payne