Luncheon Makes Scholarships Personal
“It is nice to put a name to a face” is a sentiment often voiced when finally meeting someone you had only known from a distance. On Thursday, April 3, the Office of Development coordinated an effort to connect both a name and a face to a realized dream as benefactors and recipients of Rider scholarships gathered in the Cavalla Room to look each other in the eye and say “thank you” during the third annual scholarship/stewardship luncheon.
Fifty-two sets of scholarship recipients and benefactors were on hand to celebrate the donor/recipient relationship, personalizing each scholarship as more than just a check sent from one’s personal account or a credit off a student’s tuition bill. Over crab cakes and baked chicken, the Rider students let their generous benefactors know just how much that scholarship money means to them as in some cases, it represents the difference between earning a degree and withdrawing from the University. The students also were able to hear stories from the benefactors as to why they chose to give to a particular scholarship fund, what life was like when they were in college, or how much it means to them to see that the recipient student succeeds both now and in the future.
Vice President of University Advancement Jonathan Meer opened the program by welcoming all of the attendees before introducing President Mordechai Rozanski, who thanked the contributors for making their student recipients’ education possible. “In no small measure, you are contributing to the education of our best and brightest, our successor generation, our leaders of tomorrow,” he said. “Your support is transforming lives and opening doors of opportunity for our students.” To the students, he offered words of gratitude and a challenge to continue in their successful ways. “I know you are grateful to your sponsors. I also know that you honor their generosity by working with our dedicated faculty and staff to achieve the highest level of academic and career success,” Rozanski said.
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While each student’s journey to Rider University has its individual routes, two students represented their peers by sharing their stories of triumph, perseverance and courage to continue with their education with the help of their scholarship benefactors. Student Government Association President Laura Vendetta thanked all of the supporters for their gifts that have allowed Rider to evolve into a remarkable institution with caring faculty. “We stand on the shoulders of giants – our benefactors,” she said. “I entered Rider University as a coy, insecure freshman, and I am now a confident, strong-willed woman.” Vendetta, whose father was diagnosed with multiple malignant tumors during her junior year at Rider, was able to take care of her large family and succeed in school thanks to her scholarship. “Without the support of my Rider family, my biological family could not have survived,” she said.
Adrian Archer’s path to Rider began in his native home in the Bahamas, where he worked in governmental public relations while his dream of becoming a first-class musician kept calling him to Westminster Choir College. Finally, he left the Bahamas to pursue his passion, but shortly thereafter, Hurricane Katrina nearly obliterated much of his hometown, including his sister’s house, and could have destroyed his dream of a university education.
Knowing that he needed to help his family, his natural inclination was to leave school immediately and return home. “That was until Superman and Superwoman flew into my world,” Archer said of his scholarship benefactors, William and Mary Renneckar and Charlotte Newcombe. “Through their scholarships, they saved my dreams and have, from that day, been the bedrock upon which I have been educated. Without their support, I simply would not have been able to continue. It is upon this bedrock that I have, over my spring and summer breaks, been able to take what I have learned at Westminster, along with some of my fellow students, to the orphanages, senior citizen homes and hospices in the Bahamas. It is upon this bedrock that we have held summer training sessions for church choirs in the Bahamas. It is upon this bedrock that students without music teachers in the Bahamas have become exposed to the arts.”
The event concluded with five outstanding singing performances by Westminster Choir College musical theatre students Joan Aniano, Elizabeth Flemming, Carl Hulden, Madison Celeste James, Russell Fischer, Jenna Tomsko, Stearns Matthews, Matthew Taylor and Amanda Carole Pascale. They delighted the crowd with an array of charming and enjoyable duets before joining together in the finale number, “On My Way,” from Violet.
