Centre College: Class of 1957 surpasses fundraising goal by more than $5,000

Class of 1957 surpasses fundraising goal by more than $5,000

RELEASED: October 11, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—With Centre's Homecoming festivities just around the corner, the Class of 1957 is doing anything but sitting around and waiting for the celebrations--they're working hard to ensure their entire class and future Centre students have something huge to celebrate.

The class, which will be holding it's 50th-year reunion, has raised more money for its reunion class scholarship than any class has ever raised. The Class of 1957 has so far generated more than $62,000 in gifts and pledges. And there's still more than a week left until Homecoming.

Two of the big reasons for this surge in scholarship dollars for the Class of 1957 are Bob Lewis and Jim Gibson. After their reunion committee adopted a scholarship as the class's gift project, both men embraced it as a personal goal. They suggested that Centre recognize donors of $1,000 or more to the scholarship as "Honor Scholars"; $5,000 or more as "High Honor Scholars"; and $25,000 or more as "Distinguished Honor Scholars."

Most importantly, Lewis and Gibson backed up their idea with their own giving and challenged their classmates to join them. To date, 14 donors are at the Honor level and five are at the High Honor level. The leaders aren't content to stop there, either. Both Lewis and Gibson say, "Let's go for $57,000!"

Lewis was born and raised in Danville on his family's farm. He worked at Centre in the 1960s in alumni and development and also was in the Navy, at one time heading the public relations effort at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Lewis now owns and runs a fundraising and campaign consulting firm in Lexington called Global Advancement.

Gibson also grew up in Danville. He attended graduate school at the University of Kentucky, earning an MBA and a Ph.D in economics. He taught business at Centre in the 1960s, and later taught at UK. He is now retired and lives in Danville.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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