NMH Magazine : Fall 2007

Leading Lines

Lessons in Giving

The importance of giving back has always been a key principle at NMH. We teach it, we model it, we talk about it, and we provide opportunities for doing it at every turn. Ultimately, however, giving back is a choice, not a moral lesson. The wonderful thing is that our students are choosing to give back, again and again, in creative and heartfelt ways.

You’ll read in this magazine about seniors Nick Anderson, Ana Slavin, and Evan Abrams, who helped raise more than $15,000 for refugees of the genocide in Darfur. You’ll also learn about a group of students who, collaborating with alumna Susanna Grannis ’55, collected over $25,000 for needy Rwandan children.

Jeff Breau ’07 sent his work job supervisor, custodial supervisor Bunny Ball, a letter the day after he graduated in June. He talked about all she had done for him; his grateful words were an extraordinary offering in return. Here is part of what he wrote.

I can hardly describe how thankful I am to have gotten to know you. You changed work job, and work in general, from a menial task to a meaningful and important responsibility. Getting to know you and being able to see the effects of my work from your perspective allowed me to realize that no matter how boring and pointless emptying the trash for the 25th day in a row may seem to me, it has a serious impact on others.

I have become a better person thanks to your kind words of encouragement during work job.... I hope that every student you have is able to appreciate the lessons you teach every day, and that they reap as much from knowing you as I have.

This spring, Sawyer Connelly ’09 traveled to South Africa with 23 other NMH students for a sophomore humanities course. He received a scholarship that offset some of the trip’s expenses; three months later, he sent a letter and a check to Les Freeman, director of the Center for International Education (CIE).

The opportunity to go to South Africa was a privilege for me, and a $750 scholarship from the CIE helped make it possible. This summer, I’ve earned some money and I want to give a student in a future year the same opportunity. I am donating a $750 scholarship to help a student in need to take part in the South African sojourn as I did. I also want to ask my fellow classmates who were a part of this year’s trip if they would donate some money toward a scholarship fund for those in need.

Rachel Koh ’08 spent her summer bringing the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to campus. She enlisted local high school students to mentor more than 20 youngsters, inviting them to NMH for such weekly events as a scavenger hunt, water sports, and Edible Art Night (complete with graham cracker houses and cookie-cutter sandwiches). In a recent presentation Rachel said:

I have spent the last several months working to establish a safe environment where kids like to come spend their Friday nights, a place that will…bring them…to a place where the world is carefree and enjoyable. After countless hours of planning and preparing…with the help of many NMH faculty and staff members, and the help of my student volunteers, this place became real.

Sometimes people ask me why I did this....Once I had the idea, I just could not back away from it. I wanted it to work out so badly that the sacrifice was worth it. And it ended up being the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

Students like these exemplify the values we teach. So do our newest alumni, the class of 2007, who gave $12,391 to the 2006–07 Annual Fund—with 99 percent of the class participating.

The pride I feel when talking about how students give is a gift in itself. I’m so pleased to be able to share that gift with all of you—and to be reminded every day, thanks to the NMH community, of how much good the head, heart, and hand can do.

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