New Davis Fund Offers Seven-Year Scholarships

The Shelby Davis family has created two parallel programs at Taft to increase and diversify the international student population (Davis International Scholars) as well as the domestic population (Davis Scholars).  These need-based scholarships will provide up to $20,000 each for six to ten students each year.

“We want to build a broadening network of America’s future decision makers,” explains Phil Geier, executive director of the Davis United World College Scholars Program, “by providing funds to support students not coming from independent school families, who might be the first in their families to attend university. We hope this will help schools recruit highly motivated future leaders seeking extraordinary opportunities at American boarding schools.”

But what makes this program truly incredible is that the Davis family is committed to funding each scholar through their boarding AND college education, for a maximum of seven years (the program is available to new 10th and 11th grade students at Taft).

“The Davises wanted other children to benefit from the very positive experiences their five children had at boarding school,” explains Ferdie Wandelt ’66, longtime director of admissions at Taft and now assistant to the headmaster for alumni affairs. And so they have launched these two scholarships at the schools their children attended: Andover, Emma Willard, Lawrenceville, Taft (Lanse ’97) and Westminster.

“Although boarding schools are largely a known commodity in the Northeast,” says Peter Frew ’75, Taft’s current director of admissions, “the Davis Scholarships will allow us as a school to reach out to kids in new markets in parts of the country and abroad where families simply don’t realize what a Taft experience can offer their children.

This year, 15 percent of the school’s boarding students are international, representing more than 20 countries, and other boarding students come from more than 30 different states from Maine to Hawaii, Florida to Washington.