Inspire the Next: The Campaign for Choate Rosemary Hall

“ To secure a vibrant future for Choate Rosemary Hall, we need to act now. Intentional planning, thoughtful growth, and your support will ensure our School’s vitality. Our task is as large as it is essential — to inspire the next generation of difference-makers and passionate leaders requires the investment, commitment, and vision of our dedicated community. Together we will Inspire the Next.” - Head of School Alex D. Curtis

How do we inspire the next?

At Choate, students are encouraged to be curious, taught to discern, empowered to explore, and motivated to hone skills that will serve them throughout their lives. Harnessing the power of our dynamic learning community, Choate graduates are prepared to pursue opportunities at the highest level and become the next engineer, actor, community volunteer, entrepreneur, educator, philanthropist, ecologist, or surgeon.

Investing in the people who make Choate extraordinary — today’s and tomorrow’s students and faculty — is the purpose of Inspire the Next: The Campaign for Choate Rosemary Hall

A collective endeavor with an ambitious goal of $300 million, gifts to the School are providing support for immediate needs through the Annual Fund, growing the endowment for essential funding including student support and faculty salaries, and fueling the infrastructure required to advance innovative programs and core curriculum.

With magnificent early support from donors at all levels, the campaign celebrated its public launch in January and aims to garner further participation from donors at all levels. We are tremendously grateful to the 7,750 donors who have already contributed.

There are many powerful ways you can invest in Choate’s students and faculty. No matter the amount contributed, our Choate community is coming together to Inspire the next generation of leaders, innovators, and difference-makers.

Unrestricted, annual support helps Choate maintain its excellence. Celebrating his 25th Reunion this year, Justin Graham ’98 says, “To say Choate is graduating world class people is an understatement. Talking with students and teachers about the conversations taking place in classrooms today is inspiring. I believe deeply that Choate plays a critical role in developing the leaders and contributors of the future, and it is in this spirit that I am committed to supporting the School financially every year.”

Annual Fund support helps to fuel every aspect of campus life including everything from curricular initiatives to athletics and financial aid to faculty support. Collectively, gifts to the Annual Fund make a demonstrable difference in the lives of our students and faculty, and every gift counts in this comprehensive campaign.

Our Faculty

At Choate, our teachers are invested in our students and their success well beyond curricular achievements. When asked what he looks forward to each year, faculty member Ben Small replied, “I love meeting the new students in the first few weeks of school. They are equal parts excited, nervous, and curious, and maybe homesick, too. I am excited for them. They will begin to discover who they are and how they fit into this world, and we can help them unlock their potential. It is terrific to be able to play a small part in that development and to encourage students along that journey.”

Investing in increased salaries for teaching faculty will improve our ability to attract and retain outstanding teachers. Leading the way toward this goal, a generous former Trustee has agreed to match all gifts made to the endowment for faculty salaries through June 2024.

Almost 50 percent of the financial aid budget is provided by donors. Tak Murata ’93 sums up his motivation for establishing a scholarship in this way: “Knowing who you are and expressing your ideas on paper is not something taught in traditional Japanese education. I loved that Choate gave me the confidence to have a view and to put my views into words and on paper. Participating in class was an expectation. I learned to express myself and understand the importance of exchanging ideas with my peers. I want to see more Japanese students have this opportunity.”

As we strive to assemble a community of creative, passionate, and intellectually curious students from a wide variety of backgrounds, financial aid is of utmost importance. We continue to increase resources for financial aid, so that cost is never a preventative factor for students who are admitted to Choate.

Student Experience

A Choate education extends beyond what students learn in class. This spring students participated in cultural travel programs ranging from Math & Mysticism in Egypt to the Korean Diaspora in Philadelphia. Ashley Sinclair, Director of Global Engagement, shares the value of these excursions, “The world is a different place today; people are more connected than ever, and we are learning that our choices and actions have a far-reaching impact. Preparing our students to address global challenges like climate change, public health, food security, and access to education, is more important than ever. While our students are learning about these issues in the classroom, getting handson experiences is invaluable in helping our students to be global-ready.”

Cultural travel, enrichment activities, and other developmental experiences come with a cost above tuition, and therefore can be prohibitive for families. To ensure that all students have access to the full breadth of a Choate education, the School created the Beyond the Classroom Fund. Where cost is a barrier for students, Beyond the Classroom funds provide everything from athletic gear to special events to off-campus travel.