Help clear a path for students
Your support will:
- Allow us to admit top students based on their talents, achievements, and potential—not their ability to pay.
- Guarantee competitive financial aid packages so students from low- and middle-income families can attend WashU.
- Reduce the burden of student loan debt, allowing our graduates to follow their chosen career paths.
- Free up resources our schools use for financial aid, allowing them to reallocate those dollars to academic programs, experiential learning opportunities, state-of-the-art facilities, and more.
Trent Clark
Class of 2026, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Ervin Scholar, McLeod Scholar
Exploring new ideas and discovering new dreams
Architecture student Trent Clark had his hopes set on Washington University as a freshman in high school. Though his expectations were high, his first-year experience surpassed anything he could have imagined. “The community, the professors, the dorms, the collegiate architecture of the campus itself … I try to stay humble, but I have to let my friends know how amazing WashU is,” he says.
This palpable sense of community paired with a full-ride scholarship cinched his decision to enroll in the architecture program at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, advancing the native St. Louisan and talented athlete’s lifelong dream of becoming an architect.
“From an early age, I have wanted to make a difference through architecture,” he says, “designing hospitals, churches, schools, safe places where people can lay their heads, feel loved, and grow with others. Now, through conversations with faculty who are leaders in their fields, I am discovering what this means.”
What I’d love to do, personally, is take what I’ve done and help other students looking to do the same thing. I want to share my story so that others can realize their dreams are actually attainable.
Trent Clark
Trent’s appreciation of campus life reflects his awareness that he does not travel alone. As an Ervin and McLeod Scholar, he belongs to two scholarship communities each named after prominent Black leaders at WashU, and both of which promote the values of academic achievement, leadership, and service.
Mindful that he is part of something bigger than himself, Trent aspires to pay his scholarship support forward: “I’ve always had a strong passion for helping out,” he says. “What I’d love to do, personally, is take what I’ve done and help other students looking to do the same thing. I want to share my story so that others can realize their dreams are actually attainable.”
We build the path, so they can change the world
