ALTOONA – Through the philanthropic support of family, friends, and colleagues, a Trustee Scholarship has been endowed at Penn State Altoona in memory of John F. Carothers, a former Penn State Altoona student and adjunct instructor. The Trustee Scholarship will benefit students at the campus majoring in accounting.
“The creation of a Trustee Scholarship designed to offer financial aid to students in need is a fitting tribute to John’s passion for Penn State Altoona and desire to help others realize their goals and ambitions,” says Chancellor Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry. “This special philanthropic initiative honors John’s life and offers support to our students who are contending with financial hardship. On behalf of our entire Penn State Altoona extended family, I express heartfelt thanks to all benefactors and appreciation to members of the Carothers family for selecting the Trustee Scholarship as an enduring memorial to John, who will be long remembered for embracing life throughout his courageous battle with multiple sclerosis.”
A 1962 Penn State graduate and a partner in the accounting firm Fiore Fedeli Snyder Carothers CPA, Carothers also served many professional, charitable, and non-profit organizations committed to improving the quality of life for all throughout his native Altoona and central Pennsylvania. He died in 2008.
The effort to raise private support for the John F. Carothers Trustee Scholarship was coordinated by John’s daughter, Nicole R. Swope; two of his siblings, David C. Carothers and Martha L. Carothers; and two family friends, Catherine M. Shaffer and William D. “Denny” Stewart. All but Stewart are Penn State graduates and former Penn State Altoona students. Stewart served as senior director of Business Operations at the campus before his retirement.
“On behalf of the Carothers family, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this scholarship,” says Swope. “It stands for everything John F. Carothers stood for: the spirit of sharing and helping someone out. His love for Altoona—‘The Garden Spot,’ as he called it—and Penn State was immense. I like the quote, ‘Our goal is not to live forever, but create something that will.’ This endowed scholarship is one of those ‘somethings’ for our family and friends.”
The Trustee Matching Scholarship Program maximizes the impact of private giving while directing funds to students as quickly as possible, meeting the urgent need for scholarship support. In this groundbreaking philanthropic model, Penn State matches 5 percent of the total pledge or gift at the time a Trustee Scholarship is created, making funds available immediately for student awards. The University match, which is approximately equal to the endowment’s annual spendable income, continues in perpetuity, doubling the support available for students with financial need.
“The John F. Carothers endowment so emulates the man he was,” says Shaffer. “John was a man of integrity, who saw charity as a two-way street, without strain and benefiting both the giver and receiver. The generous contributors have honored a remarkable man, and with their donations, they honor the quality of giving that will last a lifetime.”
The creation of the John F. Carothers Trustee Scholarship will help Penn State Altoona to reach its goals in For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. This University-wide effort is directed toward a shared vision of Penn State as the most comprehensive, student-centered research university in America. The University is engaging Penn State’s alumni and friends as partners in achieving six key objectives: ensuring student access and opportunity, enhancing honors education, enriching the student experience, building faculty strength and capacity, fostering discovery and creativity, and sustaining the University’s tradition of quality. The campaign’s top priority is keeping a Penn State degree affordable for students and families. The For the Future campaign is the most ambitious effort of its kind in Penn State’s history, with the goal of securing $2 billion by 2014. Penn State Altoona’s goal is $20 million.