‘Scholarships Are About Celebrating, About Rewarding and Recognizing Achievement’

Being a Pickard Scholar has been a whirlwind of an experience. … It is because of the generosity of Ripon supporters, exemplified and embodied by many who sit in this room tonight, that made my education and that of many others at Ripon, all that it could possibly be.

Scholarships aren’t just about making college more affordable, though at Ripon, it certainly makes a difference!! On a different level, scholarships are about celebrating, about rewarding and recognizing achievement, and the willingness of Ripon to do such things for so many, means they understand the vital importance of that feat. … It’s understanding these past four years, that Ripon respects me, and respected the 18-year-old I used to be, and wanted that girl here … enough to bid against other colleges. … Should I have told the admission office I was coming to Ripon regardless of the outcome of the scholarship competition? Nah. …

Half the battle of reaching students who could go Big Ten or Ivy League is getting them here. Scholarships allow Ripon to be as attractive as possible to these super-involved, super-motivated kids, who may not realize the academic vigor and extracurricular opportunity at Ripon until they are here. If Ripon was lucky, all families would be like mine — you turn down a scholarship to Ripon, and you’re out of the will. But not all families have the connection to Ripon that I do, and in those cases scholarships take on a world of importance, making Ripon affordable and in some cases, irresistible.

The one thing I cannot stress enough is that Ripon is a success because of the students and faculty, brought here and kept here, thanks to our endowment. This past fall, I was honored to represent Ripon in the Rhodes competition and continued on to be a state semi-finalist. But perhaps the greatest part, I must tell you, was walking into a room of some of the best and brightest students in the country, from schools like Stanford, Boston College, Madison, the Naval Academy, Marquette, Georgetown University … — and truly realizing that Ripon is among the best schools in the country.

And Ripon can compete with the best schools. Because we continually recruit from and bring in the best students, in no small part, due to the generosity of our scholarship packages.

Thank you all for your unceasing support of Ripon, and congratulations on the end of the campaign. r

Benefactors Named in 1995

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

Sherlock Bristol

William S. Brockway

Thomas E. Caestecker

Barbara Baldwin De Frees 1930

Densmore R. Dickinson 1933

Cornelieus B. Erwin

Harrison E. Farnsworth 1918

Shirley Farr

The Ford Foundation

Patricia Parker Francis

Frank J. Harwood

Edward D. Holton

Orrin H. Ingram

Irene Parcell Johnson and Herbert F. Johnson

Robert G. Lambert 1952 and Margaret M. Lambert

Rollin B. Lane 1872

George H. Miller

Francis Neilson and Helen Swift Neilson

OshKosh B’Gosh Foundation

Samuel N. Pickard and Dorothea W. Pickard

Samuel W. Pickard 1955 and Carmen K. Pickard

Ralph Hale Ruppert and M. Lenore Ruppert

May Bumby Severy 1908 and Harold A. Severy

Clarence A. Shaler

S. Frank Shattuck and Ruth Harwood Shattuck

Valeria G. Stone

Marie Zarwell Uihlein

Charles A. Van Zoeren 1953 and Joan Hurley Van Zoeren 1953

Jeremiah W. Walcott

The Todd Wehr Foundation, Inc.

Delmar D. Wensink 1916 and Stolper-Wensink Foundation

Rachel A. Woods

Thomas R. Wyman 1950 and Shirley F. Wyman

R. Douglas Ziegler

The Ziegler Foundation, Inc.

Also recognized on the original Benefactor plaque for their roles in founding the College are Alvan E. Bovay, Edwin Lockwood, Jehdeiah Bowen, David P. Mapes, Warren Chase, Ezra L. Northrup, John Scott Horner, Almon Osborne and Asa Kinney