Scholars Program

The Amoskeag Scholars

In June of 2020, Derryfield produced a detailed equity and belonging update (see derryfield.org/eb-june-2020), answering questions from Derryfield constituents about how the School educates around equity and belonging issues. The article tackled everything from curriculum to hiring, from student body composition to the daily lived experience. Through the lens of our Founders’ legacy, many of whom were active in the civil rights movement, the School has strived to advance equity and belonging in all of the areas listed above, and more.

Taking Action

In fall of 2020, the Board of Trustees partnered on these initiatives, prioritizing the launch of a scholars program that would not only enroll bright, motivated students from underserved populations at Derryfield, but would incorporate programmatic goals set forth by the Equity & Belonging Committee.

In April 2021, The Board unanimously voted to approve the creation of the Amoskeag Scholars program. With a goal of eventually welcoming 14 tuition-free scholars to campus, the enrollment process was able to actualize the program by enrolling eight initial scholars for fall of 2021. All eight scholars enrolled not only tuition-free, but with books, technology, student activities funds, and in some cases lunch, breakfast and bus transportation covered by the terms of the scholarship. The program includes a preference for strong applicants from the Breakthrough Manchester program, and three of the initial eight were Breakthrough scholars.

Building Cultural Competency

During the 2021–22 school year, Director of Equity & Belonging Laura Russell and Director of Enrollment and External Affairs Kathleen Rutty-Fey ’87 partnered on a year-long mission to more personally onboard and support Derryfield’s new scholars through events that convened and benefitted all scholars (Malone and Carlson included) and Breakthrough Manchester families. These events included student leaders from the Multicultural Student Union as well as experienced, diverse Derryfield families who acted as mentors and guides, and provided a more personalized transition. Throughout the year, Laura Russell acted as an additional advisor to scholars and their families, checking on their academic and cultural transition, troubleshooting where necessary, and communicating to the faculty when education and adjustment was helpful.

Holding these events and obtaining feedback from our scholar families is but one component of building cultural competency as a school community. As the scholars’ programs build, feedback from students and their families will be critical to understanding their experience, learning from it, and making adjustments that serve to enhance the School’s cultural fluency.

In part due to the Amoskeag Scholars program, but also related to changing demographics and Derryfield’s overarching commitment to diversity, Derryfield’s self-identified student of color population grew from 21% to 26% of the overall student population from fall 2020 to fall 2021, while also maintaining overall enrollment gains. The financial aid program, known as Equitable Tuition, also played a role in this seismic shift. The ET program seeks to purposefully attract and enroll qualified students who, based on their unique financial profiles, can pay a wide range of tuition.

Funding Our Scholars

The School was fortunate that the Malone and Carlson Scholars programs were launched by generous donors and endowed funds. The Board took a different approach to the Amoskeag Scholars initiative: strong confidence around enrollment allowed the Amoskeag program to launch without established funding, underscoring the desire to act swiftly and build a program around one of the School’s critical, strategic goals. Looking forward, a fully funded Amoskeag Scholars program will require the base of a $14,000,000 endowment fund in order to support 14 students annually, in perpetuity. If the School had waited for the initiative to be 100% funded before moving forward, it would have been delayed a decade or more.

The Philanthropy & Engagement team has the Amoskeag Scholars program in their long-term plans for much needed endowment funding. In the short term, the Board has designated $600,000 for the Program and an additional $50,000 in endowment funds has been raised from a local family. This strong foundation will allow us to work with future donors to build and expand this incredible initiative.

If you are interested in supporting an Amoskeag Scholar, please contact Anna Moskov at amoskov@derryfield.org.