Many years after meeting in a freshman fencing class, Tom and Betsy (Beliveau) Davis were reacquainted and eventually married. Their shared undergraduate experience led them to establish the Tom and Betsy Davis Scholarship Fund, which has helped two students attend MIT. A bequest plan–developed with the MIT Office of Gift Planning–ensures that the fund will support more students in the future.
Supporting undergraduates. “We both benefited from the generosity of others, including scholarships,” says Betsy. “The undergraduate years are incredibly formative, and to help somebody else have that experience is really meaningful to us.” Tom agrees, adding, “If we can knock down the financial burden for students, they’ll be more focused on what they came here to do.”
Celebrating the MIT experience. Today, Betsy is associate director of facilities at Phillips Academy Andover and Tom works in supply chain management for a Palo Alto consulting firm. Both have happy memories of MIT. “There were moments in class where the waters parted and you could see truth in its purest form,” says Tom. “But some of the best moments for me happened outside of the classroom.”
Goals for the future. Tom and Betsy hope others will consider establishing scholarships. “You don’t have to build a building–you can make an impact with annual giving,” says Tom. Betsy adds, “Funding a scholarship feels like an investment in the future for everyone, because the impact students can make with a little bit of assistance from us is incredible.”
Help MIT build a better world.
For information, contact Amy Goldman
617.253.4082; [email protected]
giving.mit.edu/planned-giving
