Parent Impact

How Tabor Reaffirmed One Family’s Conviction in the Power of Education

In 2021, many high school seniors suffered a lost year. The pandemic wrought changes that stunted the educational, athletic, and social-emotional growth of students across the country. For Warren and Kathy Skillman P’21, whose son Nic graduated from Tabor last June, they couldn’t feel more fortunate for their family’s experience, despite all these challenges.

“When I talked to friends who had kids in the public school and some of the other private schools, they were just tearing their hair out,” Kathy says. “And Nic’s schedule continued with some regularity.”

During Commencement Weekend, the Skillmans swelled with pride and gratitude as they marveled at their son’s growth and the individuals who fostered it.

As the Skillmans reflected on what fueled this transformation, their thoughts centered on Nic’s teachers and peers. The importance of his advisor, Matt Voci, loomed large.

“Our very first meeting was one of the best parent-teacher conferences I’ve ever had because he really understood my son,” Kathy says. He met the kids where they were and didn’t cookie-cut his interactions.”

They were also appreciative of English teacher Christopher White who ignited Nic’s passion for mountain biking.

“He had always wanted to be good at something athletically,” Warren says. “He was frustrated for a long time but then he fell in love with biking. When that happened, it transformed his confidence. Tabor was there to take that and mold him and project him forward.”

“The other integral component to his success at Tabor was the student body,” Warren says. “He had a group of five or six friends who were so supportive of each other. I admired it. I never had that when I was his age. But these boys really had each other’s backs, and I think that speaks to the quality of the student body that Tabor brings in.”

Kathy echoes this sentiment when describing how Nic and several friends were inducted into the Cum Laude Society. “There was a group of them and I think they had talked about it amongst themselves. There was competition, which often gets a bad rap, but it was healthy. They spurred and supported each other’s success.”

Shortly after commencement, the Skillmans contacted Tabor’s Advancement Office to pledge a generous gift that honors the school’s transformative power.

“We’re both first generation college graduates and very much believe in paying back and paying it forward,” says Kathy. “Our schools are at the top of the list for what we give to because education has been such a big part of our lives in getting us to where we are now.”

Warren adds, “Tabor doesn’t have a huge endowment relative to some other big private schools which we think they’re every bit as good as, so we wanted to support that as well.”

“We just wanted to say thank you,” Kathy says. “When you’re a parent and you see your kid is happy at school, that’s really all you want because everything else will follow. And at Tabor, he was very happy and supported.”

Thinking about where Nic was when he came into Tabor compared to where he ended up when he left—it was transformational. Year over year was just a cumulatively

positive experience. ”

– Warren Skillman