{"id":47614,"date":"2018-10-15T19:54:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T19:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/?p=47614"},"modified":"2018-10-15T19:55:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T19:55:09","slug":"the-class-of-1968-says-thank-you-to-augsburg-through-their-endowed-scholarship-of-75000-and-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/2018\/10\/15\/the-class-of-1968-says-thank-you-to-augsburg-through-their-endowed-scholarship-of-75000-and-growing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Class of 1968 Says \u2018Thank You\u2019 to Augsburg Through Their Endowed Scholarship of $75,000 and Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>When the class reunion committee first met last May, the Class of 1968 Endowed Scholarship was not on the agenda, nor did anyone mention any sort of fundraising. But the idea had already sprouted in the mind of committee co-chair Bruce Benson, and by the time he reached home after the meeting, it was firmly planted. The retired St. Olaf College pastor knew that other institutions benefited from alumni reunion gifts, so why not Augsburg? Dare he test a gift proposal among his peers?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t been on the committee, I don\u2019t know if I would have proposed it,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I thought, \u2018let\u2019s just see what happens.\u2019\u201d He emailed the committee members, respectfully acknowledging their other charitable commitments, making no assumptions about class members\u2019 financial means or inclinations, yet exploring possibilities. Would they be able and willing to contribute? Would they resent being asked? Might such a project fizzle out before reaching its final goal?<\/p>\n

His pitch was forthright. \u201cIn 50 years I\u2019ve developed other commitments and loyalties,\u201d he wrote, \u201cbut Augsburg is where I got an undergraduate education that helped me live a meaningful life and contribute to the world around me. Additionally, I am rather proud of what Augsburg has become since we were students. I\u2019d like to support that.\u201d One could do that on one\u2019s own, of course, but \u201ca class gift sounds like more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response was unanimous: yes!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt seemed like a great idea. A lot of us got scholarships,\u201d says Miriam Cox Peterson, who thought a goal of $50,000, the minimum required for an endowed scholarship, would be nice, but $68,000 sounded even better. \u201cWhy not try? Kids going to Augsburg now are certainly paying more than we did. We were given that opportunity, and we want other people to have it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 1968, she pointed out, her guaranteed tuition ranged from $1,000 her first year to $900 her last, and her summer jobs covered the $500 for room and board. Those jobs\u2014destroying old files in a sub-basement, sliding carbon paper between insurance policy copies\u2014were anything but glamorous, thus convincing her that a college education was essential to a happy future. She has remained grateful to Augsburg ever since, and she will contribute $10,000 to the cause.<\/p>\n

Benson wrote to the entire class, identifying with how hard it might be to choose among competing responsibilities but also reminding them that they had entered the era of minimum IRA distributions and might be seeking a way to make a difference. So far they have donated more than $75,000 for the scholarship, which will be available to any student in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, I\u2019m gratified. The response is very satisfying but not surprising,\u201d Benson says. The Class of 1968, which graduated during a momentous year of assassinations and Vietnam War protests, was characterized by others as \u201cdifferent,\u201d more engaged, active, and risk-taking than most. \u201cFifty years out, we all have an honest sense of how influential our education was. Whatever we didn\u2019t like has faded away, and we realize this is a good thing. I\u2019m also rather proud of what Augsburg has become since we were there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very impressed with what they\u2019re doing. They\u2019re incredibly inclusive, and service to the world around us is ingrained in them, just as it was ingrained in us,\u201d Peterson adds.<\/p>\n

Five decades ago, Augsburg seemed trapped by its confinement in the city, with no place to grow and all the action shifting to the suburbs, Benson explains. Since then, however, it \u201chas embraced its role as a city school and has become a good neighbor and resource. This gift will help the Class of 1968 say both \u2018thank you\u2019 and \u2018bravo\u2019 to Augsburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the class reunion committee first met last May, the Class of 1968 Endowed Scholarship was not on the agenda, nor did anyone mention any sort of fundraising. But the idea had already sprouted in the mind of committee co-chair Bruce Benson, and by the time he reached home after the meeting, it was firmly …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-recognition","category-gift-announcements","category-giving","category-giving-to-augsburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47614"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47617,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47614\/revisions\/47617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}