Now is always the right time for Every Laurentian to get involved in shaping St. Lawrence’s future
As The Campaign for Every Laurentian heads into the final phase, Campaign Co-chairs Jay W. Ireland ’77 and Sarah E. Johnson ’82 are convinced the fiercely loyal Laurentian network that St. Lawrence is known for will continue to be the backbone of the University’s trajectory for decades to come.
“This is the time to really think about every Laurentian’s connection to St. Lawrence,” says Ireland, who invites everyone to ask themselves: What does St. Lawrence mean to you? How important has St. Lawrence been in your life or your child’s life? What can you do to be a part of shaping St. Lawrence’s successes for decades to come?
For Ireland, it means helping to fund unique programs such as the St. Lawrence Kenya Semester. For Johnson, her support spans from women’s leadership programs to cutting-edge science facilities. For Hilary Valentine ’89, it means elevating the Center for Career Excellence. And, for George Karpus ’68, it means investing in the comprehensive Appleton Arena Project as well as other Campaign priorities. For all of them, and many others, contributing annually to the St. Lawrence Fund remains key to the University’s competitive advantage.
“Our success is because we have more energetic engagement by alumni and parents who are getting involved, some for the first time, in an effort like this,” says Johnson, noting that the Campaign has continually broken records in the number of donors, nearly 20,000, and amount raised $194 million to date.
“2020 has been interesting,” says Ireland, who credits Tom Pynchon, vice president for University Advancement, and his dedicated team for immediately understanding the difficult circumstances that the COVID-19 crisis presented in spring 2020. “It was necessary to take a step back and make sure that people were taking care of themselves,” says Ireland “And it also included letting Laurentians know that St. Lawrence was thinking about them.”
Although the outreach had changed, the innovation on campus has only accelerated to meet the challenges of 2020 and to launch new initiatives out of the campus-wide planning process led by the Experience St. Lawrence Task Force. (p. 22) “The final phase of the Campaign has dovetailed nicely with the work of the task force,” Ireland says, “and every Laurentian can find a space where their impact is felt greatest moving forward.”
“Now is always the right time for everyone to get involved,” says Johnson, “because we are finding exciting ways to look at learning for the 21st century at St. Lawrence, and we are only going to be able to meet future challenges if we have full engagement by every Laurentian!”
