Passing It On

Luncheon brings donors and scholars together

April 3, 2007

First in America campaign co-chairs Jennifer Ward Reynolds '77 (center) and George Reynolds (right) join students Anthony Colarusso '07, Ryan Voorhees '07 and Kelly Lohr '10 at the luncheon.

Kellie Newton '81 is very satisfied with the handsome returns she's been getting on her investments lately.

Newton—who invested in human capital—recently got to see those profits: the students who benefit from the scholarships she has endowed. She and other "investors" gathered in the HUB Social Hall on March 25 to meet and have lunch with the student-scholars who are the beneficiaries of their generosity.

A common storyline

Many of the donors and scholars who came together for the luncheon found that they had more in common than just being connected by an endowed fellowship. Many of the donors, in fact, had once been in the same position as the recipient-scholars seated next to them.

Newton, a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge and a member of the college's board of trustees, was the first member of her family to finish a four-year college education. Three of her four grandparents did not finish high school and her father attended college for only three semesters before dropping out to get a job.

Financial aid made it possible for Newton, a history and political-science major, to attend Dickinson. "I was a work-study recipient during my four years here: I worked in food service and for the history department. … To this day, I still unload my dishwasher the same way I did when I worked in the dish room," she notes with a grin.

In an uncanny twist of fate, the recipient of one of the scholarships Newton funds, Brittany Tang-Sundquist '09, also has worked in the dishwashing room. Tang-Sundquist, an anthropology major from California, is very grateful for Newton's support. "My parents, although very talented, don't make enough to send me to Dickinson," she says. "This scholarship support is an integral part of my financial aid and makes it possible for me to be here."

Living legacies

The scholarship that helps Tang-Sundquist attend Dickinson is the Durwood M. Newton Scholarship—named after Kellie Newton's father, who didn't finish college. The irony is not lost on Newton, who is thrilled to be able to provide opportunities for others.

"The Dickinson experience allows people to achieve," Newton says. "Of all the things I do with my financial resources, giving to the college is the most rewarding. When I see people like Brittany, I know they are going to have a profound impact in the future."

But Newton's generosity hasn't stopped there. She also has endowed a fund in honor of her parents, Durwood and Joanne—The Newton Endowment Fund for East Asian Studies. The fund allows students like Danielle Fackenthal '07 and Sean Rhoads '07 to travel to the Library of Congress and elsewhere to do research and attend meetings. Newton chose East Asian studies because her father, a Korean War veteran, was fascinated with all things Asian.

The sights and sounds of gratitude

Like Newton, music professor emeritus Truman C. Bullard not only got to see the results of his investment but to hear them as well. The Truman Bullard Scholarship, which he and wife Beth, a music professor, fund, helps support students such as Ryan Koons '10, a violinist from Maryland who played traditional Celtic and Nordic dance pieces at the luncheon.

With help from the Bullards' scholarship fund, Koons was able to fulfill his dream of attending Dickinson to study world music—a mixture of various cultural musical styles. "The scholarship helps make it possible for me to study with [Artist Faculty in Violin] Professor [Blanka] Bednarz. She's phenomenal," says Koons.

After listening to Koons perform (accompanied by his father Ken), Professor Truman Bullard says, "The music speaks for itself. I'm very proud to have a part in this."

From the looks on the faces of Newton, Bullard and the other donors gathered at the luncheon, it was obvious that their investments were paying off handsomely.