Branksome Receives Historic $5-Million Gift: iCAST Building to Be Named for Karen Jurjevich
Branksome Hall News
Class of '18 Continues its Tradition of Generosity
Reunion and Fundraising Rep Gwyneth RICHARDSON hopes to see most of her class back at Branksome on June 3. Her class raised the largest GY class gift in Branksome history, $100,000 towards a financial assistance bursary. Now, as they celebrate their fifth-year Reunion, Gwyneth is galvanizing her class to add to this fund, helping even more students benefit from the gift of a Branksome education.
When Gwyneth Richardson’18 was in Marianne Long’s Grade 6 class at the Junior School, she received a memorable surprise visit.
“This alum who was studying at Harvard dropped by and said, ‘I came all the way from Boston to visit everyone,’” says Gwyneth. “All the teachers and staff were so excited and I thought, ‘One day, I'll come back and knock on a door here.’ The alums who’d come back to visit or for Reunion always made such a big impact on me.”
Currently studying sociology at the University of New Brunswick, Gwyneth has shown her vigorous school support as an alum. As the fundraising and Reunion rep for the Class of ’18, she hopes to get most of her classmates back together at the school on June 3.
It’s a tight-knit group. Notably, the Class of 2018 campaign collected the largest Graduating Year class gift in Branksome history, with total commitments of $100,000 towards a bursary for financial assistance, and almost 85% participation. Gwyneth also made an Annual Fund gift on International Women’s Day to honour “all the amazing women who supported me throughout my journey at Branksome Hall. I wouldn’t be doing what I am today without you.”
Her Reunion co-rep Alexa Laenert ’18 feels the same way. A financial assistance recipient who started at Branksome in Grade 9, Alexa works part-time at Branksome in operations and summer camps, while pursuing a degree in English literature at the University of Toronto.
Gwyneth and Alexa acknowledge that it’s still a formative time in their fellow alums’ lives and participation in Reunion giving is what counts most this year. They’re also both just thrilled to now be the ones inspiring current students.
Gwyneth remembers writing notes to those celebrating Reunion when she was in the Junior School. She also came to the interview for this article with a big sack of memorabilia from her time at Branksome, including one especially amazing keepsake, a “Keep Well the Road” quilt with squares hand-drawn by her Junior Kindergarten classmates.
As young adults who are still exploring and being gentle on themselves for not having non-negotiable “five-year plans mapped out,” a road leading back to Branksome for this year’s Reunion, and the reassuring company of their classmates, is a pretty great one-month plan for now.
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.
Setting the new standard for girls' education everywhere takes collective action. From all of us.
