Designs on Emma’s Future Amid a successful interior design career, one alumna gives the gift that keeps on giving “I’ll never forget my first class: English with Miss Prescott,” said Nancy MullanDemirjian ’58. “Never had I experienced class discussion at that level. The curiosity was incredible. I finally felt like I fit in. It changed my life.” Now Nancy is changing other girls’ lives by funding a scholarship that gives them access to an Emma Willard education. Nancy has a personal history with scholarship support. Though thrilled with her acceptance to Emma Willard, her parents simply could not afford the tuition. “I never would have been able to attend if I hadn’t received a scholarship,” she said. “I was, and still am, so grateful.” Today Nancy owns her own interior design firm, NDM Kitchens Inc., practicing in New York City and on Long Island. The skills she acquired at Emma Willard have been invaluable to her, and not just because she was exposed to so much art and beauty during her years on Mount Ida. “Designers are naturally creative people, and many of them neglect the business side of things,” noted Nancy. “But financial matters never intimidated me, largely because Miss Harner was such an excellent math teacher. That is probably one of the main reasons I’ve been able to stay in this business for twenty-five years.” Her financial savvy has also informed her support of Emma Willard. Nancy had established her own scholarship fund to offer other young women the opportunity she had—but she wasn’t in a financial position to make the fund as large as she wanted it to be. “Then I got the School’s gift annuity mailing and it just made sense,” she said. “I get fixed income for my lifetime, and I’m able to make a gift to Emma Willard now—a far larger gift than I could have made otherwise.” The most recent Nancy F. Mullan Scholar, Kaitlin Phillips ’09, came to Mount Ida from Lewiston, Montana. Her many contributions to the Emma Willard community included serving as student representative to Curriculum Committee and Conduct Review Committee, and as key member of Quiz Team, varsity volleyball, and Annual Fund phonathons. Now a freshman at Barnard College, Kaitlin said of her scholarship to Emma Willard, “It allowed me to spend four years in an environment that not only shaped who I am now, but also who I would like to become. The teachers I had at Emma pushed me to think, not just regurgitate. My peers allowed me to be myself. I am reminded every day that these things were a spectacular gift.” And how does Nancy feel about making an Emma Willard education possible for young women like Kaitlin? “I will say, without reservation, that setting up this scholarship has given me more satisfaction than almost anything else I have ever done. Emma Willard did so much for me, both intellectually and socially. It only makes sense for me to give back.”
Emma empowers girls— when you empower Emma.