Legacy Giving Donor Stories

Presidio Hill School was strongly recommended by our pre-school counselor for our son, Samuel, and when my husband Michael and I toured the campus, we felt a warmth and welcome that we did not feel at other schools. The progressive pedagogy and curriculum also were in alignment with our hopes that Sam would find a school where he could thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. In 2006, he began kindergarten in Steve Manseau's K1-K2 class.

I volunteered with the Parent Guardian Association the very first year, helping to shelve books in the library with the fireplace, where I met other parents. I also was recruited to join the Board of Trustees' Development Committee as a "civilian" member. By the end of the year, I had been elected to serve on the Board and immediately joined the Executive Committee as Secretary and chaired the Development Committee. I succeeded Anne Regenstein as Chair of the Board at the same time Scott Duyan became Head of School, and we had a marvelous partnership for the next four years, during which time we strengthened the middle school experience as well as began our expansion with the acquisition of the Maple Street property.

My involvement with the school community -- parents, faculty and staff, students -- really enriched my life as well as that of Mike and Sam. We made so many good friends, we did good collaborative work to benefit the school, we embraced so many wonderful events and traditions at PHS. It seemed that every parent felt a strong connection with the school and wanted the best not just for their student but for all students. This really inspired and motivated me to bring my best to the school. While Sam was in college (and during the pandemic), I returned to the board for two years as a community member, and I was again so impressed by the commitment of the parents on the board to ensure that PHS would continue to offer a strong values-based academic experience and community for generations to come.

As the child of parents who are philanthropic and service-oriented, I feel that same duty and responsibility to contribute to make a difference to the best of my ability. Before Sam graduated from PHS in 2015, I decided to include PHS as a beneficiary of my estate plan; more specifically, the school is named in my retirement plan. I feel privileged to be able to make a legacy gift that will positively impact the school and its community in the years ahead (way ahead!). I have always felt that annual contributions to the school -- to all of our children's education -- is the best investment I could make, so why not annualize those gifts into the future? I am grateful to those families who preceded ours, on whose shoulders we stand, whose contributions of time and treasure made PHS the wonderful place where our son received nine outstanding years of nurturing. I want to be a part of that philanthropic story at PHS.