Support that transcends the walls of a classroom
Your support will:
- Bolster health promotion and intervention programs to cultivate well-being for our students.
- Allow students to participate in meaningful career experiences by providing fully funded pre-professional opportunities.
- Provide guidance and real-world experiences for first-generation or limited-income students that prepare them for success at WashU and beyond.
- Strengthen our vital counseling and psychological services.
- Support new, unified career services that will improve student career readiness, bolster faculty collaborations, and deepen employer engagement.
- Provide tools to understand diverse perspectives, engage in productive dialogue, and navigate the world with confidence and self-awareness.
Your gift of any amount will help provide undergraduate and graduate students with resources they need to learn, grow, and flourish. If you’d like to make a gift today, you may choose from one of the eight funds listed below or contact Student Affairs Advancement to discuss additional giving opportunities.
Drake Shafer, Class of 2023, Olin Business School
Thomas Anderson Family Scholar, Chancellor’s Career Fellow
Welcoming every opportunity to grow and learn
Drake grew up in a rural community in Illinois and attended a small high school with 50 graduating seniors. With encouragement from his mom, he became the first in his family to attend college and the first student from his high school to attend a top-20 university in generations. Now in his senior year at WashU, he has delved deeply into the student experience, taking classes in business and management, participating in the student-owned consulting firm Bear Studios, and completing a global management internship at Anheuser-Busch.
WashU has helped me learn how to take on—and succeed in—multiple roles.
Drake Shafer
In his second year, Drake was selected to participate in the inaugural class of the Chancellor’s Career Fellowship program, which provides career-oriented opportunities for first-year or sophomore students from low-income and first-generation backgrounds. The skills he gained helped him land his first internship, and the university provided a stipend to help offset housing costs during the experience.
He hopes his collegiate success will lead to a fulfilling career and enable him to give back to those who supported his journey—especially the WashU community and his family. With so much to look forward to, Drake is taking full advantage of every opportunity the university has to offer: “WashU has helped me learn how to take on—and succeed in—multiple roles. I’ll keep these experiences with me for the rest of my life.”
We go above, so students can go beyond
