251 Class Gift

Thank you for supporting Central High School and joining with your 251 classmates to make an impactful gift to our “dear old high”.

We have a starting goal of donating $25,100 to the Leading The Way capital campaign by our 30th reunion this year – for more information, please go to www.251reunion.com. Working together, we are sure we can reach this goal!  Gifts of any size are greatly appreciated. We are hoping that many of us can make a gift of $251 towards this campaign. This amount can be broken up into 12 monthly gifts of $20.92 or can be made at one time.

Eighteen classmates created ‘The 251 Experience’ led by the efforts of Nicole Bolt Anderson and Jacob Susman. Everyone on the committee had the ‘go big or go home’ mindset and together three events were developed – a virtual fundraiser, a family bowling night, and the main event at the Adventure Aquarium. We also developed sponsorships to lower reunion costs, and are offering “scholarships” to those who want to attend but might not otherwise be able to fit it into their budget. Contributions began rolling in and now, we are 85% to our goals with only two months to go!

With the contributions of our 251 classmates, along with alumni and friends, towards the Leading the Way campaign, the investment we make will provide high school students with world class facilities, and a space that the community can gather and connect — a place where creativity and innovation ignites the minds of our youth, and engages a collective of leaders, changemakers, and philanthropists. To date, the project has secured nearly $25 million in funding and is almost halfway to its goal. The campaign is spearheaded by Joseph Field, the founder of the Philadelphia-based media giant Audacy (formerly Entercom) and member of the 192nd Class, who has made a matched gift contribution of $10 million. 

The goals of this ambitious major capital improvement plan are:

• Academic Planning coordinates near term initiatives within the long term pedagogical vision for Central.
• Integrate STEM Education through a new STEM Innovation Center that will allow collaboration and project-based learning to take place across the science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines.
• Provide 21st Century Learning Opportunities with a new Digital Media and Technology Center, housed in the new Student Commons, that will provide technology for classroom research and writing projects, podcasts, and broadcasting.
• Repair and Invigorate Central’s 25-acre campus and its 200,000-square-foot 1939 historic academic building.
• Advance the Performing Arts with a new Performing Arts Center that will feature a 400-seat theater and innovative rehearsal rooms, classrooms and technical support spaces outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment.

In addition to your gift, your impact can be even greater if your company participates in a matching gifts program. Please visit the Matching Gifts page to see if you qualify.

We greatly value the generosity that Central alumni and friends have towards the betterment of the school and the Philadelphia community. In fact, two generous 251 alumni have made match gift contributions, including Kyle Andeer (251) who has been a four-year matched gift donor for Giving Tuesday. This past year, he pledged up to $100,000 made on Giving Tuesday, and through his stewardship, the campaign was tremendously successful and raised over $250K! Another generous and anonymous member of our class will match gifts made by the end of the year up to $12,000. 

A gift today will help to provide a sustainable future for our students, who will one day join our tremendous community of leaders, changemakers, visionaries, and philanthropists: our alumni.

If you would like to consider a naming opportunity major gift, becoming a matched gift donor, or other ways to give that require further attention, please contact the alumni office to speak with Cynthia Lech (263). Cynthia is the AACHS Executive Director and can be reached at cynthia@centralhighalumni.com or (215) 845-3308. 

Go Lancers!

 

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The Associated Alumni of Central High School is a U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 23-1618008. Contributions may be made online, by phone, by check through mail, through wire transfer, donor advised funds, private foundations, matching gifts, recurring donations, and multi-year pledges.