Many donors name endowed scholarships in honor of their parents, but few parents name endowments to honor their children.
Roger (’78, Business, Accounting) and Kim Pitzer chose to pay tribute to their two daughters, both recent MSU alumnae, by establishing an endowed scholarship in each daughter’s name. Jenny and Susie Pitzer were surprised by the honor and thrilled to choose what area of MSU would benefit from their parents’ gifts. Jenny’s first reaction was: “Thanks so much for honoring us this way; hopefully one day I will be able to do the same in return.” Susie added, “How nice it is of you two to allow us to direct the scholarship to an area of our choice at MSU.”
The Jenny Pitzer Scholarship for Intercollegiate Athletics will support a student-athlete in a non-revenue sport. Jenny (’08) graduated with dual majors in communications and Spanish. She believes that athletics often generates interest in and excitement about MSU and may be the thing people hear about the most. “A strong, broad based athletics program with successful student-athletes will help MSU in its mission,” Jenny said.
The Susie Pitzer Spartan Scholarship Challenge Endowment takes advantage of the matching funds program (see side bar) to provide a needs-based scholarship that follows a student throughout his or her MSU experience provided a 2.5 GPA is maintained. Susie (’09) completed her degree in dietetics. She believes that many students struggle financially. “Scholarship money allows students to spend more time on their educations and less time working to pay for them,” Susie said.
Roger and Kim have each worked for over 30 years for the Kellogg Company based in Battle Creek. They are experienced MSU endowed scholarship creators having funded one for students in the College of Education, one for MBA students in the College of Business and another one for students involved with Intercollegiate Athletics.
The Pitzers feel blessed to be able to give back to a place they love. They are modest in accepting accolades for their gifts, noting that they are fortunate to work for a company that matches gifts to higher education. Their generosity has created a family legacy.
For more information on making a special gift to MSU, contact Director of Special Gifts Karen Wenk at (517) 884-1084; wenk@msu.edu.