Dear alumni,
Today, more than 50 years after graduating, I am still grateful (and amazed) that the Admissions Committee took a chance on me, and, more than I did at the time, I fully appreciate the skills I learned there that have served me well throughout my career. There are a lot of “but fors” I attribute to my years at the U, and the biggest one is that “but for” having attended the U, I would not have met my wife of almost 50 years, Shannon Sperry.
As Shannon and I reflect on all the goodness in our lives that came from those years, we think it’s time to pay it forward; to extend a helping hand to others, without expecting anything in return. In that spirit, we have established the Class of 1975 Paying it Forward: Academic Success Program (“ASP”) Endowment. The Academic Success Program, which provides individualized support to students struggling academically after the first semester and is partially responsible for the law school’s current 90%+ bar passage rate, recently celebrated 40 years.
While the cost of the first semester program has been covered by faculty and teaching assistants who receive ungraded credit, the second semester has no formal funding. The goal of this endowed class gift is to provide perpetual support for the program.
Our hope is to have everyone from the extraordinary class of 1975 participate. If you want to know more about this endowment or to just say “hi,” please contact me or Shannon at Paul@madrona.com or Shannon@lasher.com. I already have shared our goal with a few of you, and I am happy to report that we are already more than two-thirds of the way to our goal of raising $150,000. I hope you will join us in securing the ASP program that has benefited hundreds of students over the last four decades.
Sincerely,
Paul Goodrich (JD ’75) and Shannon Sperry (JD ’75)
Support the Class of 1975 Paying it Forward: Academic Success Program Endowment