USD Magazine Fall 2012

ALUMNI UPDATE

The USD Wine Classic has helped the Alumni Endowed Scholarship reach its $1 million goal. Nearly 70 percent of students at the university benefit from some sort of financial aid.

[ g e n e r o s i t y ]

A l umn i E nd owe d S c h o l a r s h i p F u nd r e a c h e s $ 1 m i l l i o n g o a l Keep on paying it Forward

by Krystn Shrieve

M

ark Hoekstra ’86 knows the importance of schol- arships from every angle

— as a student, as a parent of a daughter who graduated in 2012, as an alumnus on USD’s Alumni Association Board of Directors, and even as someone who reads scholarship applications from students in the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate. Each year, from among the many deserving students, Hoekstra must pick one to receive a scholar- ship through the California Home- building Foundation from the Ernest W. Hahn Endowment. The scholarship, which is named for Hoekstra’s grandfather, a trustee emeritus for whom the Hahn University Center is named, was established in 1990, prior to the launch of the real estate program in 1993 and well before the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate was named in 2004. “The world is in great hands if these students are an example of our future,” Hoekstra says. “The achievements they have experi- enced and the obstacles they have overcome in their short lives are inspiring and motivating to me.” It was the stories of so many students that inspired Hoekstra to think big and challenge his fellow alumni board members to raise $1 million for alumni endowed scholarships—a goal they reached during the summer of 2012. “Achieving this milestone shows the power of the Alumni Associa- tion, our alumni leaders and the

LAUREN RADACK

Hoekstra says there are several things that make USD’s Wine Clas- sic special — and different from other wine-tasting events. First, all of the vineyards are con- nected in some way to USD. The dozens of owners or vintners are USD alumni, USD parents or have some other close tie to the univer- sity. Also, the people who are

love that they have for this univer- sity,” says Charles Bass, director of alumni relations. “It also shows how every gift, no matter the size, can add up to benefit our students for a lifetime.” The ambitious seven-figure quest started in 2006 when Shan- non Smith ’86 first established the Alumni Endowed Scholarship

Fund. The next year, while the board discussed its annual goals, Hoekstra, then the chair of its finance committee, suggested the board commit to a $1 million goal. To make it happen, board mem- ber Kevin Dooley ’93 established the Wine Classic in 2009; with proceeds supporting the Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund.

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