People attending the Lead the Way event at WCU. Photo taken by Jeremy Giovanni
By spring 2019 WCU wants to raise $60 million to support its students and ensure their success.
WCU launched the public phase of the fundraising campaign “Lead the Way” on March 1 with a 3o hour long event to raise as much as possible towards that goal.
The event was streamed live for the people who couldn’t make it, and to allow the information to spread to more people.
“To motivate additional donations the campaign steering committee and I have joined together to announce a Lead the Way challenge gift. We want to get the public phase of this campaign off to a great start with your help so we have pulled our resources and we are prepared to match $33,000 in gifts starting right now and continuing until 11:59 p.m. March 2, 2018, which is 30 hours to make a difference,” said the acting chancellor, Alison Morrison-Shetlar, kicking-off the event.
Chancellor David O. Belcher, who has been on medical leave since Dec. 31, 2017, after battling brain cancer since April 2016, attended the event. He and his wife, Susan B. Belcher initiated the campaign with a commitment of $1.23 million towards scholarship support at WCU.
As WCU grows the number of students enrolling will continue to increase, but with this growth the need for scholarships is increasing. In 2016-2017, current WCU students and their families took on $71.4 million in student loan debt to afford the cost of college.
Student scholarships are WCU’s top priority, and they are the reason for the Lead the Way campaign.
The campaign states that any amount of money donated to WCU would be helpful whether it be $5 or $5,000. WCU will also be putting a direct link to the Lead the Way site so people who want to donate can have easier access.
Bellow is the video from the event (37:17)
