As the academic year winds down, we have a great story to tell about our parents and families. We are privileged to have amazingly supportive parents and families of Lafayette students. Each year, gifts to the Parents and Family Fund support programs that encourage students’ intellectual, social, and personal growth. Unparalleled research opportunities, global learning programs and study abroad experiences, talented and dedicated faculty, our nationally recognized Career Services Program, and numerous extracurricular opportunities are a few key experiential educational activities that impact the academic and professional realms of the student experience at Lafayette College.
Last year over 2,300 parents and family members of current students made gifts to Lafayette and we are on our way to reaching and hopefully exceeding that number again this year. A few areas that parents and families regularly give include athletics, the Excel Scholars Program and financial aid. New this year, our parents are helping us launch a new endowment fund through the Marquis Parent Council that provides critical support for our Internship Stipend Fund. We’ve learned that this is a major area of focus for our parents and families for many reasons. Employers expect students to have had at least one internship experience and parents and families understand the often high costs of internships, especially those that are unpaid or underpaid. Information about internships and to hear directly from Lafayette students about the impact of the internship and stipend program can be found here.
In addition to financial support of programs, our students have benefited from parent and family engagement in several high impact ways via our Gateway Program in Career Services. Between providing practice interviews, to hiring students as interns, serving as mentors to current students, and to opening up their homes to host a career event, parents and families are making a difference in preparing our students for life after Lafayette. A wonderful example of this type of support is upcoming in June when one of our current parents, in partnership with a member of the Class of 2017 and Career Services, will host a meeting of the Women in Business Networking Group. This event will bring women together for networking and mentorship.
So whether you have supported Lafayette College financially and/or through volunteering your time, thank you for all you do. The contributions made by parents and families are invaluable and have a tremendous impact on the lives of our students.
If you’d like to make a gift to Lafayette or find other ways to become involved, you can go to this website.
Tom Dubreuil
Associate Director of Parent and Family Giving
(610) 330-5732
dubreuit@lafayette.edu