Forest Ridge School 2016-17 Annual Report

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Annual Report 2016 - 2017 ~ Thank You For Giving To the Forest Ridge Community of “Givers,” As we look back over the past year of generous giving at Forest Ridge, the story we can tell is one that should make our hearts full. The year began with an exciting $1 million dollar bequest from Elnora Eddy Davenport (Forest Ridge School Library Assistant from 1975-1998), that was announced to the faculty and staff in the Chapel as we launched our Forest Ridge Fund “5 Weeks to Yes” drive. Inspired, the faculty and staff committed to 100 percent participation to the Forest Ridge Fund, as did the Board of Trustees. We can affirm that the parent community was energized by the sense of community, intellectual excellence and “all-in” feel on campus as an astounding 94 percent of parents pledged to support the Forest Ridge Fund during the 2016-17 school year. What has everyone so engaged? Forest Ridge students, of course. With exchange opportunities around the globe through our Sacred Heart Network, Outward Bound experiential trips, global travel to Rwanda, Berlin, the Dominican Republic and even the Arctic Circle, our girls know they must go out into the world to understand it even as they learn about it here in the classroom on the Ridge. They are teaching us that learning simply must be fun, too. Celebrating their own philanthropic energy after a successful student-run Forest Ridge Fund campaign, the sophomores won the honor of pitching softballs to a dunk tank target to see which of their teachers would get a cold bath on a sunny day in May. And, learning at Forest Ridge is often emotionally uplifting, as members of the Chamber Choir discovered during their July trip to Rome. The choir’s moving impromptu concert for Mater Admirabilis – joined by chance by visitors from sister school Academy of

the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, who arrived there at the same time – brought happy tears from those gathered nearby, including Marcia O’Dea, rscj, who accompanied the choir group to Rome. It has been especially gratifying to watch as the community came to the understanding that it does, indeed, take a village to send girls of intellectual promise with a will to make an impact out into the world. We sincerely thank each of you for joining us to make a powerful statement about our philanthropic culture at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. The powerful goals of Sacred Heart Education commit us to a spirit of generosity, a spirit of engagement, and a spirit of commitment to excellence, community and service. You, your belief in those goals and our girls and your generosity helped us tell the compelling story of philanthropy that is told by this annual report for 2016-17. With gratitude,

S. Campbell Mathewson Chair, Board of Trustees

Dr. Mary Magnano Smith ’61 Trustee, Former Head of School Chair, Development Committee


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