As we approach the final months of the 2025 school year, it’s time to look back on everything the fund has accomplished this year, along with some pivotal changes we’ve made.
While one of our most successful on-going programs has been the Youth Frontier Courage Retreat for 7th graders, we wanted to support the school’s interest in revisiting some of the skills and philosophies taught to these 7th graders, and agreed to fund a Respect Retreat for the 11th Grade Class this year, in addition to the Courage Retreat. These 11th Graders attended the Courage Retreat five years ago. The Respect Retreat pushes students to consider how school would be different if everyone respected each other – and themselves – and then pushes them to be brave enough to enact this philosophy every day. If you’re interested in more about Youth Frontiers, please visit their website:
We also successfully brought back the ACT Prep Program this year, funding both the teachers for their overtime instruction, as well as the purchase of ACT Prep books for every junior.
Finally, we made a significant change to our senior scholarship program. Previously, we’ve distributed between $5-7,000 in funds to several seniors in the amounts of $500-$1,000. While these scholarships were impactful, we ultimately decided that awarding a single student with a substantial amount would be far more impactful. For the first time this year, one senior will receive a $10,000 scholarship to be allocated over their first two years in post-secondary education. We are so excited to be able to provide such a meaningful award to a deserving senior, and look forward to posting about our recipient in June.
Below, Roz Laraway presenting the 2024 senior scholarships to our deserving seniors!
As always, we are grateful for your constant support and good memories of Mark.
With Love,
Katie, Dylan, Roz, Lindsay, Carey, and kids