Photo by Sean Quinn
The Columbia High School Class of 1954 gathered on March 26 to donate $21,000 to the scholarship fund.
MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Columbia High School Class of 1954 donated approximately $21,000 to the high school’s scholarship fund during a ceremony in the CHS Auditorium on March 26.
In doing so, the class has endowed an annual scholarship in its name, having surpassed the required minimum donation of $20,000 to do so. It is now the second class to establish its own scholarship, following the Class of 1963 last year.
Joan Lee, president of the Columbia High School Scholarship Fund, said she greatly appreciates the generosity of the ’54 alumni. But beyond its financial benefit, Lee said their grant is especially meaningful for what it says about their dedication to their alma mater.
“It feels wonderful to know how strongly they feel still about their high school 60 years later, and to know that they recognize the importance of helping students in this day and age achieve perhaps the same thing that these graduates from 1954 were able to achieve,” Lee told the News-Record prior to the event.
The gift came about after alumnus Alan Salisbury issued a challenge to his classmates at their 60-year reunion in September — he would pledge $10,000 of his own money to the fund if his classmates could come up with $10,000 of their own. The Class of 1954 accepted, and did even better than expected, collecting a little more than asked for during the succeeding months.
And Salisbury could not be more pleased. Crediting CHS with providing the quality of education necessary for him to attend West Point and eventually become a two-star general in the U.S. Army, he said it was important to him to ensure the next generation received the same opportunities that he did. Thus, as he said, he put his money where his mouth was.
“We all look back from 60-plus years later at our lives, and I think we can trace whatever success we have had to a strong beginning through the school system in Maplewood and South Orange,” Salisbury told the News-Record before the ceremony. “The imprimatur of a Columbia High School diploma is recognized as a fine school and a fine education. So how do you say thank you for that to the community? You pay it forward to the future of the community.”
Salisbury described himself and his wife as ardent supporters of education in general, financially supporting all of their alma maters. In fact, the Class of 1954’s donation was not the first grant he has made to CHS, having previously created an endowment in the names of his close friends Iris and Wyman Richardson.
According to Salisbury, CHS will always be special due to the influential teachers who left their mark on him. He recalled one history teacher in particular who inspired him — Jack McDonough — to the point that he actually invited McDonough to the ceremony in which he was promoted to brigadier general in 1982.
“That was a great reunion for the two of us,” Salisbury said. “He was just so proud, and I was so proud to have him there for a very special occasion in my life. So that was a strong Columbia High School connection that stayed with me.”
CHS noticeably had the same effect on the several other alumni who gathered for the event, some of whom traveled from out of state to attend. In fact, the scholarship fund ceremony quickly turned into an impromptu reunion filled with gleeful reminiscences. At one point, a few alumni even performed the song from their Junior Night — a former school tradition in which juniors would write and put on a play — as if no time had passed since they last took to the stage.
“We had the best time here,” Herb Rosenberg said, reflecting on his years at CHS. “I cannot believe we are here all these years later. It feels like yesterday.”
Rosenberg was not the only one who felt that way. Though it had been 60 years since they graduated from CHS, Rosenberg and his friends Lenny Harlan, Gail Henston Jaffe and Margie Halprin Davis talked with the carefree earnestness of youth, recalling memories such as the restaurant where they took dates and the delicious ice cream it sold, all with a twinkle in their eyes.
Harlan said they formed real friendships in high school, the kind that stand the test of time. And it was all thanks to the atmosphere CHS provided.
“There was a general feeling of camaraderie,” Harlan told the News-Record. “It really allowed us to bond as a class.”
Even after graduating, Jaffe and Davis saw the positive impact of a CHS education on their own daughters. Now Davis’ granddaughter is a student at the high school, and she said she is still impressed with what it has to offer.
“It is different, but she is getting a wonderful education,” Davis told the News-Record.
With its endowed scholarship, the Class of ’54 hopes to further that education for current CHS students beyond high school. And the CHSSF indeed has a track record of success. Since being established in 1923, the fund has provided more than $1.1 million in scholarships to thousands of students pursuing any type of secondary education, whether through a regular four-year university, a technical program or a medical school. Any graduate can apply for a need-based scholarship with a tax return and school transcript.
Last year, the CHSSF awarded 97 scholarships totalling $140,000, according to Lee. That is a far cry from the 15 it gave out when she first became involved with the fund in 1997, and demonstrates just how diligently it has been working since then, she said. And that effort to help the students will also benefit the community in the long run, she added.
“These are our children who will hopefully come back and work here, live here and vote here,” Lee said. “We are investing in our future because these are the children who are going to be running the world when we are sitting back in our rocking chairs.”
But the rising costs of higher education are preventing many graduates from living up to their potential, Class of ’54 reunion organizer Dottie Kyle pointed out. That is a key reason why the class wanted to endow a scholarship, Kyle said. Now that it has, she urged other alumni to do the same.
“There are a great many parents who want their kids to have a better life than they did, but they cannot afford to send them to college,” Kyle told the News-Record following the event. “We want to challenge other reunion classes to endow a scholarship.”
To learn more about the CHSSF or make a donation, visit http://www.chssf.org/.