Friday, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that industrialist Henry Rowan of the Inductotherm Group has provided a five million dollar challenge grant to the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades.
Williamson is a very unusual school. Tuition is free and provided on the basis of need. Students are required to board at the school. Student life is highly structured, including daily chapel and work detail including assistance in food preparation and facility maintenance. Values and civic responsibility are taught in addition to technical skills. In the school’s own words:
The School’s core values are: Faith, Integrity, Diligence, Excellence, and Service.
Rowan himself is plainspoken about the benefits of the school:
“It seemed such a valuable contribution to the economy when you take fellows that might not be able to get a job on Wall Street but can make things and build things and do things.”
I am encouraging readers of this blog, clients of That Software Guy, and people who have benefited from the free software I have written to please consider donating to Williamson in support of this challenge grant. The gift of the dignity of labor to a young person who has nothing is the best gift possible for “the person who has everything.”
You can make your gift online using their web form.
If you prefer to mail a check, Williamson’s mailing address is:
Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades
Attn: John J. Schlesinger, Vice President of Institutional Advancement
106 S. New Middletown Rd., Media, PA 19063
I am a trustee of the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades and strongly support the sentiments expressed in your message. As you mention, Williamson is an unusual school where a free trade/ technical education is provided to 250 students. Admission is based on financial need. The Rowan Challenge is a difficult one because regular donors to Williamson do not qualify for the match. Only new donors and those who give several times their normal gift qualify for the match. We appreciate your help in this effort.
Comment by Richard Clemens — Wednesday, November 28, 2007 @ 6:07 pm
What a Christmas present for the students at Williamson – and for the generations to follow! I’m a trustee of the school and dedicated to training the men who will build and maintain this great country. They are well-trained in the trades, but also in life skills including leadership and respectful, ethical behavior to their fellow human beings. Thanks for the boost you’ve provided to the effort and to us!
Comment by Richard Lighty — Thursday, November 29, 2007 @ 11:27 am
The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades provides training in both technical skills as well as work ethic and values. Even better yet, thanks to generous people like you, a Williamson graduate has no student loan to pay off at graduation. Not only is a gift to Williamson well used, it is an investment in education and useful citizens of the future. It is a rare school that teaches values, as Williamson has done for 119 years. Williamson operates from the proceeds of an Endowment left by Isaiah Williamson and from gifts such as Mr. Rowan’s, yours and other generous people. Thank you for your gift and for the suggestion to others. Williamson will use all gifts wisely with great care and frugality.
Sincerely,
Dick Storm
Comment by Dick Storm — Friday, November 30, 2007 @ 7:11 am
Scott — In view of your support of Williamson’s capital campaign on your blog, I thought I would pass along to you the recent fantastic news that Williamson has received two new major gifts aggregating $45 million. Below is an excerpt from today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:
Trade school gets $45 million donation
By Jane M. Von Bergen and Mari Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writers
In jubilation yesterday, they celebrated with glasses of sparkling cider at the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades.
No wonder. Its president had just announced that the tiny private trade school outside Media – enrollment 250 – would receive a whopping $45 million donation from two of the region’s most generous philanthropic couples.
Sparkling cider? Williamson has a strict no-drinking policy, enforced with random Breathalyzer tests – part of a policy to build character while building skills in carpentry, power-plant operation, turf maintenance, and machining.
Williamson’s discipline and education, in fact, are what attracted the donors to the school, where tuition and room and board are free for the college-age students. They generally graduate after three years with an associate’s degree.
The donations come from metals entrepreneur Henry Rowan and his wife, Lee, of Langhorne, Bucks County, and former cable television magnate H. FitzGerald “Gerry” Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, of Philadelphia.
“I think they are educating a unique group of people in a unique way,” Henry Rowan said in an interview. “They take kids from limited finances and teach them a trade. They run a very highly disciplined environment, and they turn out some great people.”
* * * * * * * * *
“When I heard [about the gift], chills went up and down my spine,” said Kevin Hatch, 21, who will graduate in May from the school’s power-plant-technology program and will start immediately at a job paying him $75,000 a year plus full tuition reimbursement.
“I’m so happy for the school because of the future that it’ll be able to have. More kids like myself will be able to benefit,” said Hatch, whose father died when he was a teenager.
In December, Rowan had set up a $5 million challenge grant. Williamson approached the Lenfests, who had been previous donors, to help match Rowan’s donation.
Instead, Gerry Lenfest issued a challenge to Rowan through Reid: Lenfest would put up $20 million if Rowan would match it.
The school already had a $50 million endowment. The $40 million from the couples, plus Rowan’s initial $5 million grant, puts the school close to its goal of doubling its endowment.
Russell Harvey, Class of 1951 and faculty member, was overcome with emotion when he was asked to lead the school in the singing of the school’s alma mater.
Harvey said the Class of 1951 had only 25 students. Times were tight, and the board had considered not having a class that year, but one benefactor was able to give enough money, at the time, for 25 students.
“I won’t be here in 40 years,” said Harvey, 77. “But this will be here.”
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Dick Clemens
Comment by Richard Clemens — Wednesday, March 26, 2008 @ 10:46 am