21 Reasons to Give on Giving Day 2021

Provide immediate financial support. Strengthen our tradition of academic and athletic excellence. Unlock an extra $170,000 in essential funding for our students. When you make a gift to the College on March 30—Giving Day 2021—you support The Rollins Annual Fund, which provides pivotal aid for everything from scholarships and experiential learning to classroom technology and career services.

There are endless examples of how your participation in Giving Day 2021 will make a difference in the lives of our students and in the communities that our students touch in our backyard and around the world. Here are 21 of our favorites.

1. You’ll expand your gift’s impact. When you make a gift on Giving Day 2021, you’ll help unlock $170,000 in challenge gifts for The Rollins Annual Fund and help the College reach its goal of 1,500 donors. From financial aid and scholarships to the area of greatest need, you can choose to support the impact areas that mean the most to you. New this year are class competitions to see which year can achieve the highest number of donors. Join us on March 30 and make your gift go further.

Special thanks to Trustee Gerald Ladner ’81, Trustee Rodney Adkins ’81, Trustee Campbell Brown ’90, and Anthony DeChellis ’84 P’19 for providing the Rollins Giving Day tiered challenges.

2. You’ll provide students like Isaac Gorres ’21 the opportunity to chart their own unique path to personal and professional success. Thanks to a generous financial aid package, Gorres had the opportunity to grow through experience at Rollins—from serving as a Fred W. Hicks Curatorial Fellow at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum and conducting original student-faculty research to studying abroad in Venice and helming an arts program for children with autism. The double major in biochemistry/molecular biology and art history was recently accepted into the prestigious master’s program in biology at Radboud University in the Netherlands, the perfect next step on his journey to achieving a PhD in conservation research and a career in contemporary art conservation.

Special thanks to June Nelson P’89 for providing the Rollins Giving Day challenge to support the Cornell Fine Arts Museum.

3. You’ll empower students like Ellie Heller ’21 to effect real change in underserved communities. From working with children with disabilities in Peru to interning at the League of Women Voters, Heller’s impactful work has recently earned her the Newman Civic Fellowship, an award reserved for students who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the nation.

5. You’ll help students like Isabel Adamus ’22 gain career-defining experience through hands-on internships. This past summer, the biochemistry/molecular biology and anthropology double major interned remotely with the Kenya Medical Research Institute, where she combined community-based research with social activism, critiquing medical studies, analyzing raw data, and devising original protocols to address gaps in the existing body of research. She credits the experience for enhancing her cross-cultural communication and presentation skills and for changing the way she views research, epidemiology, and community engagement—all essential preparation on her path to becoming a physician focused on public health.

5. You’ll give Tars like Shannon Sullivan ’20 the foundation to become a Fulbright Scholar. At Rollins, Sullivan learned to love learning, threading her passions for languages and cultures into a double major in Spanish and international relations. Along the way, she took classes in Arabic and scuba diving, made a solar oven in Physics of Light, studied abroad in Spain twice, and lived alongside immigrant farmworkers not far from campus—all of which broadened her understanding of the world.

6. You’ll help student-athletes like Molly von Eschenbach ’21 shine both on and off the field. As a defender on the women’s soccer team and a communication major who recently served as a social media intern at the Golf Channel, Eschenbach has developed skills in leadership, collaboration, and critical thinking that will support her dreams of becoming a broadcast journalist. For the past two seasons, she’s started in 26 games and has been named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll the past four semesters.

Special thanks to Trustee Patricia Loret de Mola ’78 ’80MBA, Tish Keir ’77, and Bruce Keir ’75 ’77MBA for providing the Rollins Giving Day challenge to support the Athletics Fund.

7. You’ll help Crummer students and aspiring business leaders like Sophie Steckerl ’19 ’21MBA reach their full potential. Steckerl is currently working as a part-time international admission counselor at Rollins while pursuing her MBA, with the goal of working in the beauty industry focused on marketing and international business.

Special thanks to John Race ’77 ’84MBA, Sandy Race ’78, Titian Austin ’80, and Bob Winslow ’71 ’73MBA for providing the Rollins Giving Day challenge to support the Crummer Fund.

8. You’ll empower Tars like first-generation college student Wyatt Deihl ’21 to earn the nation’s foremost public policy scholarship. At Rollins, the Truman Scholar designed his own major in health, medicine, and society, conducted student-faculty research on gender and racial discrepancies in HIV treatment, founded the Rollins Public Health Association, and participated in multiple advocacy-focused internships. A budding statesman with an eye on running for office, Deihl plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health as well as a juris doctorate on his path to becoming a public interest attorney specializing in LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities.

9. You’ll support nontraditional students like Marybelle Doe ’21, who’s well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming a classroom teacher. Through the new Pathways to Teaching program, a unique partnership between Rollins’ Hamilton Holt School and Orange County Public Schools, the College is helping create a pipeline of licensed classroom teachers to Title I schools that need them the most.

Special thanks to Trustee Alan Ginsburg for providing the Rollins Giving Day challenge to support the Holt Fund.

10. You’ll fund cutting-edge lab and classroom technology where students will develop their passions and help create a brighter tomorrow. This past summer, Alyssa Malto ’21 and chemistry professor Laurel Habgood set out to synthesize biologically active silver complexes with the goal of helping determine whether or not the compounds are effective at killing the kind of bacteria that causes dental cavities. Malto, who plans to pursue a career in medicine, immersed herself in the interdisciplinary nature of the project, seeing in real time how different subfields of chemistry can all come together to solve a microbiological problem.

11. You’ll enable students like Farahana Cajuste ’21 to make a difference by serving the public good. By having the opportunities at Rollins to serve as the president of the Latin American Student Association, learn firsthand about domestic issues in underserved neighborhoods in New Orleans, and intern with the Haitian Consulate, Cajuste landed a spot in the prestigious Junior Summer Institute offered by the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program, where she learned from leaders in policy research and cultural economics. From there, she’ll pursue a master’s in international development and public administration, an internship at The World Bank, and perhaps a job with the United Nations.

12. You’ll help Tars explore the world and test their ability to make it better. Even in a year without travel, Rollins opened windows to the world through opportunities for global discovery right here at home. From new courses and virtual international internships to remote fellowships and global integration in the classroom, Rollins continued the far-reaching work of increasing cultural fluency, forming an even stronger foundation for when our wide-eyed explorers can once again take flight.

13. You’ll allow students like Ahrmon Mahanpour ’20 to broaden their interests, develop new passions, and walk their own path. Mahanpour entered Rollins intent on launching a career in investment banking, but his time at Rollins uncovered new plans and redirected his purpose. Collaborating with students from different backgrounds, interning everywhere from Coldwell Banker to Goldman Sachs, and daily walks past the “Life is for Service” engraving near Strong Hall made Mahanpour realize that his education didn’t exist in a vacuum. This past summer, he started working as a technical account manager for Microsoft, where he’s already been commended for his ability to communicate with clients and find creative solutions for their business systems.

14. You’ll provide hands-on, career-shaping opportunities at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum to students like Morgan Snoap ’20. The art history major, 2020 valedictorian, and two-time Fred W. Hicks Curatorial Fellow curated an original exhibition of African art through Rollins’ Student-Faculty Collaborative Scholarship Program, an experience she credits for defining her professional pursuits. The burgeoning art historian is now pursuing a PhD in African art history at Boston University.

15. You’ll inspire students like Madison Kress ’20 to develop skills aimed at outreach and service. At the Hamilton Holt School, the communication and psychology double major thrived in the small, discussion-based classes anchored by close-knit relationships with professors and fellow students and seized opportunities to apply her skills both in and outside the classroom.

16. You’ll champion entrepreneurs like Dominic Adomakoh ’21 ’22MBA by helping them earn the No. 1 MBA in Florida. At Rollins’ Crummer Graduate School of Business, Adomakoh is sharpening skills in economic development, finance, real estate, and marketing that will enable him to drive positive social impact in communities across the globe.

17. You’ll help increase the value and prestige of a Rollins degree. Alumni participation is a critical component of college rankings like U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of the nation’s best colleges. As a result, your gift on Giving Day 2021 not only supports current and future Tars, but it also helps enhance the prestige of your Rollins education. Want to say you earned your degree from the South’s top college? Join us on Giving Day 2021.

18. You’ll empower students like Gabby Shepherd ’22 to lend their voice to the fight for racial equality. As a member of Rollins’ championship debate team, Shepherd took to the virtual stage for her first debate last spring. The English major and aspiring attorney sharpened her powers of persuasion and argument, debating on a topic that not only resonates deeply with her on a personal level but one that is more relevant than ever amid a historic movement for racial justice. 

19. You’ll help ensure that Rollins continues to rank among the nation’s best in blending academic and athletic success. For the 10th consecutive year, the College has earned the NCAA Division II Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence, which honors schools where student-athletes achieve an academic success rate of 90 percent or higher. Rollins’ 96 percent academic success rate was the highest in the Sunshine State Conference and the fifth highest in the nation.

20. You’ll make it possible for students like Marcus Mosquera ’22 to learn by doing. As a transfer student, one of his first experiences at Rollins included conducting fieldwork as part of a series of immersive environmental studies courses. He traveled everywhere from the east coast of Florida to Northern California learning about topics and issues related to sustainability not only in theory but in practice.

21. You’ll help Rollins support the South’s best professors as they guide and mentor students on their journeys through Rollins. In addition to ranking as the top regional university in the South, the College was also ranked by U.S. News & World Report as No. 1 for best undergraduate teaching programs, which recognizes colleges for having an exceptional commitment to teaching undergrads. At Rollins, our expert professors are distinguished researchers and esteemed scholars, but above all else, they’re teachers. Inventive, inspiring teachers dedicated to helping every student chart their changemaking course to a meaningful life and productive career.

How much impact can you make in a single day? Let’s find out. Join us March 30 for Rollins Giving Day 2021 to show the world the extraordinary difference one day can make in the lives of our students.

Get ready for Giving Day 2021.