Without the generosity of our donors, "we'd be a shadow of the school we love so much," says Humanities Dean Elizabeth Moose.
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Without the generosity of our donors, “we’d be a shadow of the school we love so much,” says Humanities Dean Elizabeth Moose.
Faculty members give to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and its students every day through their work in the classroom, labs, and advising. Many of our instructors also choose to support the school with financial gifts. Elizabeth Moose, dean of humanities, tells us why she gives to NCSSM and the impact that charitable giving has on NCSSM, its students, and our collective future.
Giving to NCSSM is a powerful and meaningful way to invest in our future—the future of our state, our nation, and our world. NCSSM alumni are working in clinics, classrooms, laboratories, libraries, businesses, start-ups, non-profits, newsrooms, on stage and backstage, on the floor of legislative buildings, in film and recording studios—in short, in all kinds of roles of leadership and service. Giving to NCSSM is a way to be a part of all those contributions that NCSSM students and alumni are making to our world.
A lot goes on here at NCSSM that state dollars don’t pay for. In the humanities department, for instance, donations to the NCSSM Foundation have made it possible for us to purchase much-needed musical instruments, to bring a Japanese tea ceremony to our Asian Studies classes, to support faculty members’ continued professional growth at conferences and workshops, for students to compete in speech and debate tournaments and other competitions, to provide refreshments at film screenings, fiction and poetry readings, and other fine arts events, and to purchase some of the rich and wonderful texts and materials we use in our classrooms. Summer Bridge and other summer programs, research, athletics, you name it—all are made possible in part by contributions to the NCSSM Foundation. Without the generosity of parents, alumni, current students, faculty and staff, board members, corporate donors, and other friends, we’d be a shadow of the school we love so much.
Teaching at NCSSM has been a tremendous gift in my life. It’s one of the things that makes me feel most alive (it’s right up there with swimming in Greece!). I love having the chance to teach bright, imaginative, and engaged students who come to our school from every corner of North Carolina. It’s a joy and privilege to challenge and support them during their journeys to learn and to grow. And I love working with dedicated and talented colleagues whose work is not just a job but a vocation, a real calling.
I’ve been a faculty member here since 1993, and I still look forward to coming to school every day. NCSSM has given me so much that I’m grateful for the chance to give back and, through my contributions, to make possible some of the remarkable programs and activities that make NCSSM such a special place.
I always say that even though our name isn’t on the sign out front, the humanities have been an integral part of an NCSSM education since the school’s inception. Thank goodness NCSSM’s founders rightly recognized that the study of the arts and humanities is essential if people are to learn to read and think critically and creatively, to write and speak effectively and persuasively (even gracefully and beautifully), to ask the tough questions, to create original answers and solutions, and to feel empathy for others. Students who come to NCSSM find a rich, challenging curriculum not only in STEM but also in literature, history, philosophy and religion, the social sciences, world languages and cultures, music, drama, creative writing, the visual arts, and interdisciplinary studies. Is it any wonder, then, that I love calling NCSSM home?