Last week, Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) hosted an event in Palm Beach, Florida at the home of CSF Board Member Remy Trafelet and his wife, Missy.
It was an evening of storytelling, with Remy starting us off with the story of how a visit to Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary School in East Harlem convinced him how a CSF scholarship can help a child access a better education for a fraction of the cost of what public and charter schools spend. CSF President and CEO Darla Romfo shared the story behind the vision John Walton and Ted Forstmann had when they founded the organization in 1998, and how that vision is being fulfilled through the expansion of education freedom and the lives of more than 200,000 children who have been helped by CSF scholarships since its inception.
Journalist John Fund regaled us with tales of his visit to East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, taking us on the journey of how meeting schoolchildren learning in a Communist system led him to realize the critical nature of education freedom. As he said, “We’re on the verge, I think, of an explosion in interest, where there will be universal scholarship programs, there will be private scholarship programs, all these innovations….I think school choice can make the public schools better — that’s what competition does in every other aspect of American life, and I think it will happen in education as well.”
CSF Alumnus Hansel Lopez added to the CSF story, sharing how the scholarship he was awarded in seventh grade opened the door to a series of other opportunities, including a high school scholarship and a college prep program. As Hansel put it, “That [receiving a scholarship] was kind of the nexus point for me, where a lot of compounding things started to happen….All of a sudden, I’m in a space where I’m being challenged, with a curriculum that is tougher, and all of a sudden, I’m more engaged in my studies.” He also stressed the importance of CSF’s partnership with scholarship families, who are required to pay a portion of their children’s tuition. Because his mother had a stake in his schooling, Hansel felt a sense of duty to her to study and do well in school. Their combined efforts paid off; Hansel graduated from Cornell University and embarked on a career in digital marketing. Today he runs his own marketing firm in Miami, employing a team of five.
CSF Co-Chair Margot McGinness underscored Hansel’s words about his mother’s commitment to his future, reminding us of the great sacrifices CSF parents have made over the years, investing in their children’s education alongside CSF supporters.
We were also fortunate to be joined by many longtime CSF supporters, including CSF Board Member Sandra Swirski, and former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her husband, Dick DeVos.
Below are some pictures from the event.
