{"id":47792,"date":"2019-09-05T23:27:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T23:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/?p=47792"},"modified":"2019-09-05T23:27:49","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T23:27:49","slug":"accessibility-to-education-and-an-open-community-inspires-graves-family-endowed-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/2019\/09\/05\/accessibility-to-education-and-an-open-community-inspires-graves-family-endowed-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessibility to Education and an Open Community Inspires Graves Family Endowed Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sam<\/a>
Sam ’16, Hazen and Kathy Graves with President Pribbenow at their scholarship signing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Hazen and Kathy Graves toured Augsburg with their son, Sam Graves \u201916, they immediately felt they had found the right place. \u201cWe were totally impressed,\u201d says Hazen, a retired partner at the Faegre Baker Daniels law firm, where he advised nonprofit organizations and handled legal matters related to charities and charitable giving. \u201cJust walking through the campus, we found students very respectful, friendly, and eager to engage.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also found that Augsburg offered the unique assistance Sam needed as a young man with cerebral palsy who uses a power wheelchair. \u201cAs we learned more about the support Augsburg offers to students with various kinds of challenges, we came to understand that Augsburg had been doing this for a long time, long before ADA,\u201d says Hazen. \u201cThe University\u2019s attitude\u2014that\u2019s the way the world is, here we all are, let\u2019s get on with it\u2014came through loud and clear, and it was reinforced as Sam went through four years there,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Education is a high priority for the Graves family. Sam had a very good experience at Minneapolis South High School, where he excelled in academics and played in South\u2019s robust adapted athletics program. After graduation, however, the choices were more difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam is very bright and has always done well in school. One of our goals was to make sure he could really capitalize on that,\u201d says Hazen. He and his wife, Kathy, a principal in the communications and planning firm of Parenteau Graves, quickly learned that not every higher education institution was able to\u2014or even seemingly wanted to\u2013serve students with physical disabilities.<\/p>\n

A tour of Augsburg was all it took. Sam agreed with his parents\u2019 assessment and enrolled in 2012. He graduated with a degree in psychology in 2016. Now 26, Sam manages social media and creates digital content for the Minneapolis-based technology company Accessible360. He fondly recalls Augsburg\u2019s CLASS program as well as his favorite teachers, Michael Lansing, Bill Green and especially his advisor, psychology professor Bridget Robinson-Riegler. \u201cShe was really fun and really, really smart. Plus she talked about the Twins a lot,\u201d Sam says. An ardent sports fan, he is the co-author of the baseball blog \u201cTwo Men On.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam\u2019s parents applaud Augsburg\u2019s \u201cgreat services, great students, great faculty, and great accommodations made for those with disabilities. And they appeared happy to provide them,\u201d Hazen says. \u201cWe had the overarching feeling that Augsburg embraced differences and made sure everyone has an opportunity to get a good education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of supporting Augsburg financially occurred to both Hazen and Kathy independently, and they decided to donate $50,000 to endow a scholarship. \u201cThis is the most open community that I\u2019ve experienced anywhere, with the possible exception of South High, and it\u2019s pretty clear that this attitude permeates the place,\u201d adds Hazen. \u201cAccess to higher education is a big issue, and we\u2019re just doing our little part.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Hazen and Kathy Graves toured Augsburg with their son, Sam Graves \u201916, they immediately felt they had found the right place. \u201cWe were totally impressed,\u201d says Hazen, a retired partner at the Faegre Baker Daniels law firm, where he advised nonprofit organizations and handled legal matters related to charities and charitable giving. \u201cJust walking …<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-recognition","category-gift-announcements","category-giving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47792","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=47792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47794,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47792\/revisions\/47794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}