Cheerfully Assisting

Our Deed of Gift contains a wonderful passage in which John and Elizabeth Phillips recognize that the free school they were founding would grow and in time require more teachers. They stated plainly their expectation that graduates “who reap some advantage by this institution, will cheerfully assist in supporting the additional, so that poor children of promising genius may be introduced, and members who may need some special aid may have it afforded them.”  

Academy histories show that Exeter graduates from the beginning have consistently met the Phillipses’ expectations, as have parents and friends of the Academy, and the experiences of all students over time have been lifted as a result. Every aspect of the student experience today has been made possible through the assistance of alumni, parents and friends who have given generously according to their means and thereby kept the Academy at the forefront of secondary education. 

I was keenly aware of this tradition while I was a student. I understood fully that the generosity of prior generations of Exonians had made my matriculation and experiences at Exeter possible. I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to attend a school like Exeter, where teachers demanded my best, integrity and hard work were expected, and family wealth was of no consequence.  

That is what I had in mind when I sent a check  in the amount of $5 my first year after graduation,  and when I sent checks in slightly larger amounts  in the years that followed. Like many other graduates, I wanted to begin repaying the debt that I felt I  owed to Exeter, and I felt it important to express my  gratitude. I had specific teachers, coaches and experiences in mind when I put those checks in the mail.  

I think about it differently now and take a wider  view. I give to Exeter for the same reasons that John  and Elizabeth Phillips used their wealth to create our school, and for the same reasons that Edward Harkness gave millions to a school that he never  attended. They believed in the power of our school to  change students’ lives, and in the power of Exonians, imbued with knowledge and goodness, to be a force  for good in their communities and the larger world.

Over the years, I have been deeply impressed  by the generosity of alumni, parents and friends  of the Academy who have similarly found purpose  and meaning in supporting our great school. Some  give to support financial aid. Some give to support  faculty and staff compensation and benefits. Others  give to support specific programs or initiatives that  were important to their experiences as students, or  that they believe are important to the development  and growth of our students today. In every case, their  gifts are impactful.  

When we give to Exeter, we support current stu dents and their individual growth and development,  but we also are part of something even bigger. Like  generations of Exonians before us, we are investing  in the mission of our school and the power of an  Exeter education. We are helping to lay the “surest  foundation” for all the good work that our graduates  will do, now and in the future, in the spirit of non  sibi, to create a better world for all. I feel cheerful  about it. I hope you do too.  

Thank you.