THE JOHN & DEANA MCGRAW FAMILY STEM CENTER

from Scholar Lane 2023

STEM EXPANSION INCREASES EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

The McGraws have been longtime supporters of The Meadows School and served five years on the Board of Trustees. They spent most of their lives in the San Francisco Bay area and were inspired to support the STEM expansion after seeing the opportunities their children had growing up in Silicon Valley schools.

“Almost no career or facet of life isn’t impacted by STEM subjects, technological developments, and tools,” Deana McGraw said. “We wanted to help TMS provide the physical classroom and lab space needed to expand its offerings to provide students with this important foundational fluency in science, technology, engineering, and math.”

As part of the Board of Trustees, Ramsey knew that fundraising to build the new STEM center would be critical to the school’s development.

“Generosity is important,” he said. “Tuition gets us on a break-even level, but in order to add to the school, you have to give.

Helping raise funds and direct plans for the STEM expansion from the board level was a perfect fit for the McGraws, whose backgrounds include technology and commercial and residential real estate development.

Ramsey said the McGraws stepping up in “such a major way” and their strong history of philanthropy helped propel the project. “Philanthropy breeds philanthropy, and their lead gift inspired others to support the expansion, which benefits students, staff, and the community.

“Continuing to invest in the campus and make it the best academically but also physically is very important,” Ramsey said. “Adding additional classrooms and labs is the right place to start, allowing us to expand without losing the important student-to-teacher ratio we have. We want to continue to grow our arts, theater, and sports programs as well.”

“Robust technology curriculum offerings are something we have cared about for a long time,” Deanna noted. “We hope our new STEM center is a first step and the beginning of a greater focus on technology offerings that will inspire students toward careers in technology fields and will provide a high level of fluency in STEM subjects for all students graduating from TMS.”