Financial aid plays a key part in our community. Supporting Financial Aid helps ensure that all deserving students have the opportunity to benefit from a SMUS education, regardless of financial circumstances.
In this series, we will share personal stories from alumni who were able to attend SMUS, in part thanks to generous donors who supported Financial Aid. It is their hope, and ours, that their experiences and gratitude will inspire others to support this important campaign and make the difference for deserving students today.
Neil Mulholland '88
"My first encounter with SMUS as a young adolescent was a TV ad for the BCTV Scholarship program in the early 1980s. At the time, I was nearing the end of my elementary school years and finding that the school system in my small, isolated hometown was primarily geared towards supplying the local industry with a steady stream of workers. Ambition was actively discouraged and most of the community’s more gifted youth left town permanently at the first opportunity. I was fortunate enough to benefit from that program, and beginning in 1985, I found myself in a place where success was celebrated by the school community, where the encouragement to succeed came from every side, and where we learned to take pride in each other’s achievements.
As my SMUS journey unfolded, I began to see how my path in life was very much a product of my own efforts. Being surrounded by peers who were themselves gifted and ambitious, and seeing what many of those peers were accomplishing, made for a rich environment for a young adolescent; an environment which encouraged personal responsibility, self-discipline, and a belief in my own abilities.
I benefited from teachers who taught me to think critically, to question everything, to search out alternate sides and approaches, to examine the available evidence through a dispassionate lens. I benefited from a peer environment in which learning, ambition and success were considered 'cool.' I learned to take responsibility for my own path in life, that nothing was owed to me in this world. I learned that excellence was an achievable goal. Perhaps most importantly of all, I became part of a worldwide, lifelong family of teachers and learners, athletes and artists, leaders, philanthropists and entrepreneurs, all of whom shared that same ethos: the pursuit of excellence is more than worth the effort.
Please join me in contributing to Financial Aid February and help introduce another generation of students to that pursuit of excellence. Vivat!"
Thank you, Neil, for lending your voice in support of financial aid, and to our SMUS community for your generosity.
Financial Aid February
February is Financial Aid February at St. Michaels University School. This month we turn to the importance of accessibility to the school through financial aid.
Please join all the other SMUS community members, past and present, who have helped young people attend our school and enjoy a world-class education.
Please visit our website to make your donation now to Financial Aid at SMUS.
