3 minute read
Planned Giving
Leaving a Legacy
For Amy Stakich Nageotte ’82, her life-long connection to Magnificat almost didn’t happen. After transferring during her sophomore year, she found it difficult to make friends and adjust to a new school environment, and so her mom set an appointment with Sr. Carol Anne Smith, HM '66L.
“I don’t even remember exactly what she did, but she helped me calm down and realize it would take time to make the adjustment. After that, she would call me into her office just to check on me, and sure enough, second semester I found friends who have been life-long friends even 40 years later.” After graduating from the University of Dayton with an electrical engineering degree, Amy worked for Hewlett Packard and received her M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University. She and her husband Dan, a graduate of St. Ignatius High School, then had two daughters who also attended Magnificat, during which time Amy was thrilled to reconnect with Sr. Carol Anne Smith who had returned to Magnificat as President. Ali ’14 received a degree in personal finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Maggie ’16 graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University.
The Nageotte Family (from left to right) Ali ’14, Amy ’82, Dan, Maggie ’16
“Really and truly, the all-girls education at that time of a child’s life is so very advantageous, and having the Catholic school background was very important to both Dan and me … [Our daughters] both had pretty full college careers and did very, very well, and I attribute a lot of that to how well they were prepared at Magnificat. There’s no reason to think that we can’t continue to place our students at high-powered schools,” Amy said. Because of their deep appreciation for Magnificat, Amy and Dan recently left a portion of their estate to Magnificat. “Magnificat has always been in our estate, but I never really thought much about it. When you first make your will, you feel like you’re never going to die, but as you get older, you realize you have to do some better planning to leave a legacy for future generations.” The Nageotte’s estate gift will be used to establish an endowed scholarship to help ensure young women continue to have access to a Magnificat education, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. Knowing that the families like the Nageottes have included Magnificat in their estate plan helps the school plan for the future. The Nageottes also made a significant gift to the recently completed construction of the new Sisters of the Humility of Mary Center for Science Exploration & Innovation. “I wish I could do more now, but I feel good knowing that at least it’s in our estate.” Magnificat’s mission of educating young women has always been a top priority for the Nageotte family. “Historically, philanthropic support of girls’ schools falls behind that of the boys’ schools, and it should not be that way. Magnificat was so very important to me and to my family, so we really wanted to try to make whatever small impact we could … Learn, lead, and serve has always resonated with me one thousand percent. You couldn’t come up with three better words to describe what I hoped for myself and my daughters as women in the community.”
Magnificat has partnered with FreeWill: a free online resource that guides you through the process of making a legally valid will and including a gift to Magnificat High School. This is a unique way to protect all that you love, lead in the spirit of Mary’s Magnificat, and build a legacy empowering young women to become models for transforming the world. It only takes 20 minutes, and you can visit
