Lawrenceville School Launches $200 Million
Fundraising Campaign
Lawrenceville, N.J. — The Lawrenceville School, one of America's oldest and most respected independent secondary schools, has announced the launch of a $200 million fundraising campaign leading up to its bicentennial anniversary in 2010. This launch is the culmination of two years of evaluation and planning, during which time the School secured more than $100 million in gifts and pledges. Lawrenceville's Bicentennial Campaign will conclude on June 30, 2010.
Funds raised will support a number of specific School priorities, including increased student financial aid and faculty support, as well as expanded course offerings in the arts, humanities, math, science and technology. The Campaign will also focus on increasing international educational opportunities and upgrades to Lawrenceville's already world-class facilities. Significant monies will be earmarked for the School's endowment fund, which provides both long-term funding of Campaign priorities and a base of ongoing support for campus operations.
"The Campaign strives to both recognize the School's two centuries of educational excellence and to ensure that the School maintains its preeminence into the future," said Lawrenceville Head Master Liz Duffy. "It is exciting to think about the tremendous promise of the next two hundred years and of the many students who, like their predecessors, will go out and make such a difference in the world."
The primary aims of Lawrenceville's Bicentennial Campaign are as follows:
- Significantly increase the percentage of students receiving financial aid from the current level of 31 percent and work toward a long-term goal of need-blind admission.
- Provide an international experience that relates to a class, program or activity to every Lawrenceville student, regardless of financial aid status.
- Construct a new Health and Wellness Center that will combine the acute care of an infirmary with an array of programs that promote prevention and overall well-being.
- Build a fifth girls’ dormitory to accommodate increased enrollment.
- Provide for continuing professional development of faculty in advanced subject area knowledge as well as the latest research knowledge about student learning.
- Expand the existing student research program in advanced chemistry to additional scientific disciplines and additional local venues. The current program brings students to Princeton University for a graduate laboratory seminar and to corporate laboratories.
- Support continued growth of the School's Green Campus Initiative, a comprehensive campus-wide sustainability program. Among other conservation measures, Lawrenceville students are engaged in pioneering efforts in the use of biodiesel, and the campus dining service has earned national recognition as a champion of the “slow food” movement.
- Endow the fine and performing arts programs, which have grown to include an extensive dance program and more than 260 music lessons each week. Increased financial support will also enable the School to expand subsidized lessons for scholarship students.
- Expand the breadth and scope of existing community service and educational outreach programs. In addition to teaching its own students the intrinsic value of service to others, Lawrenceville aims to become a national leader in programs that raise educational standards for all students.
This international effort will be led by Lawrenceville alumni Tom Carter (Class of 1970), Martin Gruss (Class of 1960), Glenn Hutchins (Class of 1973), and Art Joukowsky (Class of 1950), Campaign Co-Chairs.
"Lawrenceville's alumni community has been tremendously supportive and generous to the School," said Duffy. "I am particularly grateful to the Campaign co-chairs, whose leadership over the past two years during the quiet phase of the Campaign has gotten us off to such a strong start."
The mission of The Lawrenceville School is to inspire and educate promising young people from diverse backgrounds for responsible leadership, personal fulfillment and enthusiastic participation in the world. Through our unique residential system, collaborative Harkness approach to teaching and learning, close mentoring relationships, and extensive co-curricular opportunities, Lawrenceville helps students to develop high standards of character and scholarship, a passion for learning, an appreciation for diversity, a global perspective, and strong commitments to personal, community and environmental responsibility.
