Campus Life

Alumni couple offers scholarship challenge to class of 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State alumni and benefactors Edward R. and Helen S. Hintz have pledged to endow a $50,000 Trustee Scholarship in the name of the class of 2014 if the Senior Class Gift Committee meets a goal of obtaining at least 3,000 pledges to the class gift from seniors by the end of spring semester.

The class of 2014 voted for the HUB Green Roof Terrace as their senior gift.

Through the Trustee Matching Scholarship Program, the University will match the endowment’s payout, effectively doubling the scholarship's financial impact. Trustee scholarships support students who have financial need.

Ed and Helen Hintz said that when they made their first gifts to Penn State, they gave at the level they could afford at that time. But by giving early, they started their own philanthropic tradition, one they hope students will begin on their own. 

Ed Hintz, who earned a degree in business from Penn State in 1959, said he made his first gift, a $2 commitment to the Levi Lamb fund, while still a student in 1957. Helen Hintz contributed $6 in 1961, a year after she graduated from what is now the University's College of Health and Human Development. Over the following decades, the Hintzes became philanthropic leaders for the University with their support for programs and projects ranging from the Hintz Family Alumni Center, opened in 2001, to the Presidential Leadership Academy, established in 2009.

“By giving to Penn State now, students are continuing to build Penn State for the future,” Ed Hintz said.

Katia Esarey, senior class gift overall chair, said the donor challenge is a "wonderful commitment" by long-time, respected donors to the University, and is a great incentive for seniors.

“I think one of the best things about the $50,000 scholarship endowment is that, in the future, the Class of 2014 will be able to proudly say that not only did we fund raise and choose a gift for the University, we also helped fund higher education for countless students for the future,” said Esarey.

Members of the Senior Class Gift Committee will be soliciting pledges through events, e-mails and phone calls to students graduating in May, August or December 2014. Seniors are also encouraged to make a gift at www.SeniorClassGift.psu.edu online.

For more information, visit www.SeniorClassGift.psu.edu. Questions can be directed to Geoff Hallett, senior class gift adviser, at gdh15@psu.edu or 814-865-0198.

 

Last Updated November 13, 2013

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