By Jeff Rodek for ThisWeek Community News
As New Albany High School’s commencement approaches and the graduates prepare their speeches, I’m reminded of all the great speakers, both national and local, who have visited New Albany and interacted with our students.
Through the New Albany Community Foundation and its donors, New Albany students have met with Pulitzer Prize winners, Harvard professors, former secretaries of state and defense, best-selling authors, historians and health advocates, just to name a few.
I recall quite vividly the drive home after my wife, Chris, and I attended our first Jefferson Series lecture, which featured presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. We could hardly believe we could access this caliber of discussion in a beautiful, intimate theater just minutes from our home.
We were so appreciative of the Jefferson Series and the opportunities it makes possible to people of all ages in our community that we established an endowment fund to support in perpetuity the lecture series.
Since the fall of 2012, when this year’s graduates entered high school, they have had the opportunity to hear such speakers as Kearns Goodwin, Fareed Zakaria, Michael Pollan, Dr. Paul Farmer, John Glenn, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Sandel and Jon Meacham.
Some were able to attend A Remarkable Evening and listen to several high-profile speakers, including former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and David Gergen. Foundation donors, such as Jim Miller, Jane and Rich Ramsey and Arlene and Michael Weiss, routinely purchase blocks of seats they donate to students, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances.
Through the Wexner Leadership Academy championed by foundation donors Judy and Steve Tuckerman, they likely heard from civil-rights leader Clarence Jones, 9/11 hero Richard Picciotto, former Ohio State University president E. Gordon Gee, Urban Meyer, Paralympic rower Blake Haxton and Abigail and Les Wexner.
More recently, students launched TEDxNewAlbany, which featured many impressive local speakers, including several students. The New Albany Community Foundation supported this initiative, as well.
My son graduated not long ago from New Albany High School and one of our daughters recently moved to the Columbus area. I know from our conversations that these rare opportunities to hear from accomplished thought leaders inspired them and enriched their learning experience and national and global view.
The New Albany-Plain Local School District’s mission includes the words, “to ensure the development of … intellectually curious citizens of the world.” Without a doubt, the caliber of speakers made available to our students would have advanced this part of the mission.
The community foundation frequently extends these opportunities to students from other central Ohio districts, including Columbus, Gahanna, Johnstown and Licking Heights, and such schools as Columbus Academy, Columbus School for Girls, DeSales, St. Charles and KIPP.
Moreover, the New Albany Community Foundation is committed to promoting lifelong learning and making these opportunities accessible to everyone.
It is our hope students take these experiences with them as they continue their educations and appreciate these unique opportunities that hopefully have contributed to them becoming lifelong learners.
Jeff Rodek is a senior lecturer at the Max M. Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University and former chairman and CEO at Hyperion Solutions. He is a member of the New Albany Community Foundation Board of Trustees.