Milestone Reunion Classes Support Scholarships

Pictured from left to right: Angelica Light ’71, Debbie Lans ’71, Elisa Del Valle ’04 and Suzy McDowell ’71

When 50th Reunion Smith Fund team co-chairs Angelica Light ’71 and Suzy McDowell ’71 put out the word that they were looking for a classmate to help establish the class’s endowed scholarship fund, Debbie Lans ’71 didn’t hesitate. She had been planning her 50th Reunion gift to the college and knew she wanted to support scholarships for a special reason.

Lans, an attorney in New York City, had mentored Elisa Del Valle ’04 since the seventh grade, when Del Valle was a student living in a neighborhood of New York known at the time as the “killing fields” for its high rates of murder and gang violence. Lans had watched Del Valle grow and eventually flourish at Smith on a full scholarship. “I saw that Smith had a really well-thought-through plan for not just admitting students of merit who didn’t have the finances to afford college but for supporting them all along the way. That was really powerful,” Lans says. “I knew I wanted to give other people the chances that I had and that Elisa was able to have.”

Lans was especially impressed by the academic, emotional and social programs Smith has in place to support low-income and first generation students like Del Valle, including the Bridge preorientation program for students of color, supplemental financial resources and support for study abroad.

Del Valle seconds that sentiment.

“I transcended generational poverty because of my Smith experience, because somebody believed in my potential. That started with Debbie and continued with the faculty and staff, who kept me thriving at Smith,” she says. Del Valle studied abroad in Cuba, was her house community adviser and served as president of Wilder House her senior year. She especially credits the staff at the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Emergency Fund for Students of Color, which helped her buy books, eyeglasses and even passport photos. “There’s a whole social and co-curricular experience low-income students need to partake in to fully participate in the life of the college, and I was able to do that thanks to the resources I received,” she says.

“I transcended generational poverty because of my Smith experience, because somebody believed in my potential.”

“Financial aid isn’t about charity,” continues Del Valle, who is now the director of social justice and inclusion and a teacher at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut. “It’s about providing access and opportunity to young people who otherwise wouldn’t know places like Smith even exist. My whole life is different today because I received the support I needed.” And as a leader in the field of social justice and inclusion, Del Valle is now able to provide guidance, support and inspiration to a new generation of young women.

The Class of 1971 Comes Together

Hoping her and Del Valle’s experience would inspire her classmates, Lans got in touch with Angelica Light ’71 and Suzy McDowell ’71. That meeting resulted in Lans making a donation to establish the Class of 1971 Endowed Scholarship Fund, part of the class’s 50th Milestone Reunion gift to Smith. A $50,000 match from the Here for Every Voice Gift Matching Program helped kickstart the fund.

Lans wrote a heartfelt letter to the class of 1971 sharing her and Del Valle’s story and inviting her classmates to donate to the fund. In it she wrote, “Smith taught [Elisa] to speak out and, with others, to harness the power of collective voices and diverse experiences. She also learned that, though her classmates may have come from very different backgrounds, they, like her, had a common goal—to use what Smith offered to transform not only their own lives but also the lives of others.”

To date, the class has contributed more than $630,000 toward their $1 million goal in support of the college’s Here for Every Voice initiative to raise $75 million for scholarships.

“Our class has rallied around this fund because we know how a Smith education can change the lives of students and open up worlds they wouldn’t otherwise know,” McDowell says. Margaret (Peggy) Farrell ’71 is one such classmate. After receiving Lans’ letter to the class, Farrell wrote back: “I would not have been able to attend Smith without financial aid and Smith significantly impacted the trajectory of my life in a very positive way. I am arranging to make a gift to the fund. I thought you should know that your letter made a real difference.”

The Legacy of Milestone Reunion Giving

Milestone Reunions—25th, 35th, 50th and 60th Reunions—are a special time for classes to celebrate their bonds. A time to reflect, reconnect and revel in both personal and shared Smith experiences, they’re also a time for alums to invest in current and future generations of Smithies, just as older alums did before them. “Alumnae know it was the generosity of those who preceded them that made their time at Smith possible and that it is now their time to pay it forward and to support the students of today and tomorrow,” says Jodi Fallon Fern, Smith’s assistant director for 50th and 60th Milestone Reunions. Milestone classes work with their class volunteers to raise funds for college priorities that are especially meaningful to the class. For the class of 1971, that choice was easy. “We knew we wanted to raise money for The Smith Fund and for scholarships,” says McDowell. “Angelica and I have been extremely proud and grateful for the way our class is stepping up to support our class scholarship fund,” she says.

Fallon Fern was delighted that the class of 1971 chose to support the Here for Every Voice initiative. “A class endowed scholarship fund ensures that the best and brightest students have access to a world-class Smith education regardless of their financial means while leaving an impactful class legacy,” she says. “We are extremely grateful to the class of ’71.”

By Mary Giles; this article originally appeared in the Spring 2021 Smith Alumnae Quarterly.

To learn more about the Milestone Giving Program, contact Jodi Fallon Fern about 50th and 60th Milestone Reunion classes at jfallonfern@smith.edu. Contact Dawn Hines about 25th and 35th Milestone Reunions at dhines@smith.edu. 
For more information about the Here for Every Voice Initiative and to give a gift, please contact Betsy Carpenter ’93, associate vice president for development, at ewcarpen@smith.edu, 413-585-2052.