By: Brie White, Senior Writer
Senior class officers recently announced that the Class of 2017 senior gift will be an endowed scholarship in memory of Jeremiah Tate and MacGregor Ruffin who would have graduated this spring.
“As senior class officers we have been meeting throughout the year. At our first combined meeting of the Senior Class we asked for ideas and spent most of the first semester trying to reach out for input,” says Patrick Longest, senior class president. “We had a number of interesting ideas including new printers, a speaker system and a walkway. Ultimately, we decided on this gift because the other ideas could be handled by other groups.”
Longest notes that the purpose of the senior gift is to commit to the success of future students. “We felt the best way we could do that while also honoring Jeremiah and MacGregor would be to bring in a student that demonstrated, as Dean Bigger put it, ‘qualities of sincerity, trustworthiness, integrity and love for humankind’.”
This is an opportunity that previous classes haven’t had. The goal is to raise $25,000 which can be matched through Wofford’s matching campaign, making the scholarship worth $50,000 in total.
“This is an amazing way to commemorate our classmates who have passed and take pride in knowing their legacy will be kept alive by the students receiving this scholarship in the years to come,” says Lillian Fant, senior class treasurer. “It’s not very often that a member of your class passes away while you’re in school, and especially not two. These were two outstanding individuals who made sure anyone they met was greeted as a friend. The nature of this gift is to supply an avenue to make the cost of an education lesser for someone who will embody the traits of Jeremiah and MacGregor that we hold dearly.”
Funding plans include emails to parents of the Class of 2017, beer and wine glass order forms and percent nights, which will be announced at a later time. The halfway mark for fund raising has not yet been met. Longest says, “For us to succeed, we must work quickly to gain momentum and raise funds as soon as possible. Anyone is capable of donating towards this scholarship fund.”
Note: Donations to Wofford’s Benefactors program do not go toward the senior class gift.