On March 14, donors and students gathered for UMBC’s the annual Endowed Scholarship Luncheon. Endowed scholarships provide support in perpetuity, so a gift made today benefits generations of students.
For students who receive their scholarship for multiple years, the luncheon was an opportunity for donors and scholars to reconnect with each other. Others met their benefactors for the first time and learned what motivated them to invest in UMBC.
Sheldon Caplis, former vice president of Institutional Advancement at UMBC, spoke of his introduction to philanthropy as a child. Although his parents were from humble backgrounds, they gave what they could afford, frequently ignoring the racial divide of the times. Today, Sheldon and Jamie Caplis honor the memory of their parents through the Joseph Caplis and Joseph Waldman Scholarship, which supports students in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.
Tristan Mountcastle, a senior majoring in political science with a minor in Spanish, talked about discovering his passion for teaching through his volunteer work at area schools. While we take literacy for granted, there are many youth in our region who cannot read. Tristan wants to open the world of literacy to these students. Tristan is a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar and a recipient of the Pittman Family Scholarship. Because of this support, he is able to graduate debt-free. Tristan met Ken ’79 and Patricia ’78 Pittman at the luncheon and personally thanked them for investing in his education.
Learn more about ways of supporting UMBC and future generations of Retrievers.
– Carmel Krause
Photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC Magazine.
Tags: scholarships, student scholarships
