The Advancement Office will begin to raise $3 million to establish a new scholarship fund, called “Hudnut Scholars” in honor of President Tom Hudnut’s 26 years leading Harvard-Westlake.
There will be four events second semester to celebrate Hudnut and honor his last year as headmaster and president, as he will retire this spring.
Proceeds from these events will go to fund the scholarship, which will be awarded each year to six recipients.
Having six scholarships will ensure that there will be a Hudnut Scholar in each grade in perpetuity. Chief Advancement Officer Ed Hu said he hopes to fund a Hudnut Scholar in each class.
Hu explained that scholarships are funded from endowment income.
By raising $500,000 for each scholarship, an approximately 4.5 percent return on investment per year generates the money necessary to fund a single scholarship recipient for a year.
An average scholarship is around $22,000, the precise scholarship amount is determined by the Financial Aid Office.
“We look at each individual situation: the cash flow, what kind of debts the family has, are they supporting other family members, and figure out based on all that information how much a family can afford toward their child’s education,” Hu said.
Josh and Beth Friedman (Spencer ’09, Wesley ’12, Oliver ’17) will chair the campaign.
They are “very interested in educational causes and educational institutions and are particularly impassioned about working with people from situations where they don’t have the financial resources to get into places like Harvard-Westlake,” Hu said. The Friedmans will host the annual financial aid dinner in March for families who have supported the financial aid program.
Current seniors on financial aid and alumni will talk about financial aid in high school and how that impacted their lives.
They will also cultivate prospective donors who are interested in financial aid but have never been to the dinner or seen the impact financial aid has on students, Hu said.
Hu defined prospective Hudnut Scholars as students who “possess some kind of leadership qualities.”
This campaign is part of a larger, three to five-year $15 million scholarship campaign.
