Over 260 total students, donors and faculty members attended the annual Scholarship Reception last Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Cable Center.
“It’s really important to us that the donors get to meet [the students] they’re supporting,” said Shelby Glenn, director of Donor Relations and Stewardship. “It’s a great opportunity for them to see the impact.”
Chancellor Robert Coombe, Vice Chancellor of University Advancement Scott Lumpkin and senior Cole Worsley spoke at the reception. Over 400 new scholarships have been created within the past five to six years as part of the ASCEND campaign, which has raised millions of dollars, according to Lumpkin.
Chancellor Coombe offered his thanks to all the donors, 50 of whom were present at the reception.
“There can be no more important gift to the university than the gift of support for our students,” said Coombe. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing that you do.”
Coombe also thanked all the students present for their hard work.
“You really are the determining factor in the quality of what we do together here,” said Coombe. “It takes all of us to build a culture here on campus, all of us. Everyone contributes to that and I know it’s a lot of work, investing in yourselves and your future at the same time.”
“I personally resonate and think about the impact of scholarships because I attended the University of Denver on a scholarship many years ago,” said Lumpkin. “I could never have come here without a scholarship, so I know, thinking about all of you students, the impact the scholarship support has and the power of having somebody that is invested in your life, invested in your future, invested in your potential.”
Coombe said the goal of the university is to make an education affordable for everyone.
“I think often that the principal challenge that we face as an institution is making it affordable for [students],” said Coombe. “It’s our mission to keep the doors of this institution open as wide as they can possibly be to an enormous spectrum of people from all different sorts of lives and places, an enormous spectrum of socioeconomic status in the world. It’s incredibly important for our mission, it’s incredibly important for the intellectual life of the university.”
Senior Cole Worsley, a finance major from Vancouver, swim team member and recipient of the Busse Family Endowed Scholarship Fund, expressed his gratitude to the donors.
“Thank you to all the donors here for helping all of us students succeed,” said Worsley. “We owe all our achievements to your kindness and generosity.”
Students from the Lamont School of Music provided music at the reception. Refreshments and hors-d’oeuvres were served.
