Fall Ask Letter 2023 - Franklin Alumni Association & Foundation
Franklin High School has a storied history of helping to shape exceptional students who make our communities better. Alumni have driven significant impacts in politics, music, sports, advocacy, business, medicine, human services, among others. And as alums, we have the opportunity to support and enrich the school environment for the next generation of change makers.
Since 1996, the foundation and alumni association has been raising funds to buy sports uniforms, support off-site field trips, purchase new equipment to replace broken or marginally functional items, and send outgoing seniors off with a scholarship as they embark on their new lives.
With your support during the 22-23 school year, we awarded 34 scholarships to graduating seniors, granted $10,000 to support teachers and programs at Franklin High School, and purchased new uniforms and equipment for several athletic teams. The $10,000 grant funded the Kingmakers program (supporting the cultural, historical, social, and emotional needs of young Black boys and teens related to their identities), Wi-Fi hotspots, and provided extra funds for science, math, music, theater, PE, and more.
With your partnership, this year we can do even more.
Our scholarship chair, Herman Houston, recently shared some thoughts about the outstanding students who share their lives and their dreams within their applications:
“I find the most pride in the fact that our committee understood the humanity and the life story that was often hidden between the lines written by students trying to win a scholarship: Students who have already used a lifetime of hope. Students who had to forfeit their childhood to help their family survive. Students who got schooled by the facets of racism and death. Students with the wisdom that mental health is not G.P.A. Students who don’t define success as a synonym for money. Students with dreams weighted down by reality. Blessed students. Blessed students with unblessed friends. Students with a North Star.”
We have huge ambitions for the future of our scholarship funds and school support funds, and we need your help. Some of these big ambitions include
increasing our endowment so that every graduating student who applies for a scholarship receives one
supporting the athletics department by purchasing uniforms more frequently than every three years
adding a family resource center with a food pantry for families in need of an extra lift
supporting the school community by paying for an additional full-time teacher each year
We need your support to make that possible.
Franklin already provides students with incredible programs in the arts, civics, music, tech, nursing, and athletics, and a curriculum and school culture that is grounded in social justice. We now have an opportunity to make sure those programs are functioning at their highest level and supported by us, Franklin’s alumni network.
Will you join us and make a gift to support these future change makers? Quakers have made a difference in this world, and we can make a difference at Franklin. Click here to join us!