The Hasker Equation Donor Profile
Jennifer Hanland Jay and Rojon Hasker with Danielle Wade, who played Dorothy in the National Tour of THE WIZARD OF OZ.
It takes two. Rojon and Jay Hasker seem to embrace this sentiment in many endeavors. Along with their own, so many other lives they’re touching are the richer for it. Two happy roles ASU Gammage has been playing in the Haskers’ equation are provider and recipient.
Two Retirees Jay retired ten years earlier than Rojon and he credits her with helping them begin to grow relationships with like-minded people outside of their professional lives. “When you are leaving the busy work world, you better have a plan put together,“ he chuckles. “She has done a really good job with it.” The Haskers were moved to become more involved as donors years ago, “when Colleen and Michael did a presentation about the community outreach at ASU Gammage.” The concept of programs that focused on using the performing arts to educate and enrich the Valley’s youth connected with what Jay and Rojon held dear. “Rojon put her niece into Camp Broadway that year,” Jay says, referring to the program comprised of distinguished actors, writers and designers directly from New York, who work with kids ages 10-17 for one week. 8
ASU GAMMAGE INNER CIRCLE
Rojon further recalls one of the first Performances for Students event they attended was the Dance Theatre of Harlem. “It was then that we grasped the impact ASU Gammage was having on the students. When the performance began it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. After the show, even though the cast could only take ten or twelve questions, a 100 hands shot up every time,” she says. Jay blends his memory with Rojon’s, saying, “From the respect their silence demonstrated to their ovations, we knew.” “As we walked out we could overhear children talking: ‘I’m going to ask my dad for ballet lessons’ or ‘I hope my mom will let me take ballet,” Rojon remembers. “Since then, we’ve tried to attend every Performance for Students.” Because she grew up in Alaska and Jay was raised in the Ozarks of Missouri, neither had big opportunities to be exposed to the performing arts. Rojon tells about the choir teacher in Anchorage who gave extra credit for students to attend cultural events like the French film festival. That same teacher urged her students to see JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in 1973. The “somewhat controversial show at the time” stuck with Rojon.
