Your gifts reap a return measured by the lives of student-athletes
A perennial dean’s list graduate student in education. An aspiring college basketball coach. A medical anthropologist. A young man helping underprivileged kids find their way to college.
“You aren’t just the best student-athletes. You’re some of the best students at the University.”
That’s how Ed Taylor, UW Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, described Husky student-athletes at the 18th annual Donor Appreciation Scholarship Dinner, where more than 300 people celebrated the impact of scholarships on the lives of young women and men.
After endowment donors and their scholarship recipients enjoyed dinner and conversation together, four student-athletes represented their 600+ colleagues in a panel discussion focusing on their plans for the future and the lasting memories of their years as Huskies.
Defensive lineman Jarett Finau, who earned a degree in philosophy in 2015, was continuing his education by working on the Pipeline Project, a UW outreach, tutoring and mentoring program for underserved K-12 youth.
“The idea is to go into local high schools that don’t have the resources others have and create a pipeline to higher education,” explained Jarett, who was the first person in his family to earn a college degree. “We’re educating the kids who go to these high schools to even the playing field.”
For those students, and for many of Jarett’s teammates, scholarships make all the difference.
“A lot of us wouldn’t be here without scholarships. You’ve granted us the opportunity for a degree,” he said.
Defensive back Brian Clay, now earning a master’s degree in education, said he chose UW because of its “balance of great sports and prestigious academics.”
Volleyball player Cassie Strickland and basketball forward Chantel Osahor shared their warm memories.
“I’m going to hold on to (Coach Keegan Cook) telling us not only to be good athletes and good students but to be good people, to carry ourselves in the right way all the time,” Cassie said.
Chantel praised the fans and supporters who “think of us not just athletically but academically and our futures, too.”
The common denominator among all the student-athletes? You, our loyal donors.
“Your gifts come alive through the lives of our alumni. These are people who will do things in the world we haven’t yet fully imagined,” Dean Taylor said. “Thank you for supporting the hearts and minds and the hopes and dreams of our student-athletes.”
