IC News

Gratitude and inspiration were on the bruncheon menu on Saturday, April 29, as nearly 100 Ithaca College donors, scholarship recipients, faculty and staff gathered to share stories on the impact of philanthropy and opportunity at the inaugural Donor Scholar Bruncheon, held in Emerson Suites.

“Philanthropy is such a critical part of the Ithaca College experience, yet often its cumulative impact can be invisible,” President La Jerne Terry Cornish told the crowd. “It is easy to see the influence of large donations to the college. It’s on the sides of our buildings, on the plaques found around our campus, on the names of our scholarships. These major gifts are very important, but I want all of you here to know – especially our students – that all philanthropy to Ithaca College makes a difference.”

Joining Cornish in thanking donors directly, interim Vice President for Philanthropy and Engagement M. Quincy Davidson said, “As donors, you have provided opportunities for students, contributed to great research, assisted new program growth and supported experiential learning that has both immediate and lasting impact at Ithaca College.”

That impact can be seen in the story of Olivia Carpenter ’22, owner of Via’s Cookies on the Ithaca Commons.

“I'm standing before you today to say thank you for investing in students like me,” she said. “The only way I could have gone to college would be if I received scholarships.”

At IC, Kramer earned the Anne Siegel ’81 Memorial Scholarship and the Emmet Boldt ’60 Scholarship.

Speaking on behalf of all the students at the bruncheon, she described the impact of their respective scholarships.

“They mean we can continue following our dreams and to give back to this community that has been so generous to us,” she said.

Kramer shared a table with scholarship recipient and athletic training major Sophia Testani ’24, who has three siblings who attended private schools, including her brother Andrew ’22. Sophia works in Dining Services and received a Pepsi scholarship because of her work.

“I was so proud to be able to help out my parents a little,” Testani said.

Stories like Kramer’s and Testani’s could be seen across generations of IC students. More than 60 years ago, just as the college was moving from downtown to South Hill, music major Mary Arlin ’61 found herself in a similar predicament.

“My brother was in college at the same time as me, and scholarships meant that I didn’t have to hold down more than one part-time job to help pay for my school.”

In her last year as an undergraduate student, Arlin also received a Friends of Ithaca College scholarship, and she went on to graduate school. In the decades since then, Arlin, an emerita IC music professor, has made philanthropy to her alma mater a priority.

“Once I was gainfully employed, I immediately started giving back to the college,” she said.

The alumnus and former member of the Ithaca College Board of Trustees also endowed the Michael J. Kaplan ’85 Scholarship, funds from which are awarded to students in the Roy H. Park School of Communications who are taking part in an internship opportunity. The money from the endowed scholarship is also invested by the college to lengthen the impact of the funds.

“It’s going to continue to pay out over the years, and that’s a great feeling,” he said. “I think more alumni would endow scholarships, too, if only they could see how it pays out, how it helps. We saw so much of that at this event.”