About this ProspectusThe Florida State University Foundation agreement amendments were finalized in February 2000. All alumni are asked to help identify qualified SMA-alumni descendants for consideration to be awarded the scholarship.
The Administrator(s)
The
Staunton Military Academy - John Deal
Education Scholarship
Background | The Endowment | The University | Funding Goals
Preferred Funding | Contributing | Fund Administration | Criteria
Applying for The Scholarship | Reports | Execution | Contacts
After John Deal's death on March 23, 1999, a small group of alumni sought to see to his disposition, and having found that it was in the care of his family, began to discuss some way by which we might memorialize him. Eventually, a plan for The Staunton Military Academy - John Deal Education Scholarship (hereafter referred to as The Scholarship) came into focus, and now, that vision is a reality.The group of alumni included: Hunter Henry, SMA '46; Bob Horvath, SMA '49; Bruce Baldwin, SMA '49; Larry Reiner, SMA '48; Mark Orr, SMA '73; Del Richardson, SMA '67; Arch Jones, SMA '69; and Malcolm Kantzler, SMA '65.
Many questions were posed, and this background will familiarize you with the major concerns that were raised and the conclusions to which agreement was reached, sometimes reluctantly, and it may likely anticipate your questions as you consider the merits of the endowment and weigh your participation in it.
To begin at the heart of the matter, concern was expressed that an endowment with John's name might deter some alumni from participating, because for some, John was outspoken of his opinions to the extreme. But, regardless of what John did to irritate some alumni, we could not say that there can be a shred of doubt, even in the most perturbed, that he loved SMA and had a strong belief in the need for better education than we have today. I think this sentiment shows clearly in the remarks made by some of the alumni, which are posted on his memorial page. So in this, why wouldn't alumni see past their differences with his straight forwardness to benefit a worthy student and the furtherance of better education? It is, after all, not to benefit John. He gave a lot, a lot of his time and effort to do the hard, tedious work to create and maintain the lists, help alumni, give advice and form a consensus for action, and the endowment detailed in this prospectus will help him to keep on giving in some way, through SMA, a school all could plainly see he loved. What could be better?
The direction of an SMA endowment to a single institution was perhaps the factor that invoked the most concern. Suggestions were made to direct the endowment to a private military school, or to the Citadel or VMI, and also to allow the candidate to attend the school of his or her choice.
A grant provided to a surviving private prep school dilutes the SMA name and, since they don't need scholarship money because they don't look for students that can't afford to pay, it would be an ineffectual gift. And then, how do you measure the quality of the applicant with no high school record? You don't. You just give the money to the school and hope they'll use it wisely, whether it is to buy books, set up a merit fund for their teachers, build bleachers or fund a military ball. In any case, it would be a one-time, spend-and-gone proposition with an engraved brass plate on a wall somewhere. But, whether the funds would go to a school project or to one of their students, supporting high-school entry candidates is a shot in the dark, because we want to be sure that we support motivated, dedicated students in need, and the high school and freshman/sophomore college years' grade records are how you find out those qualities in a student. And, looking away from the private-school sector, a student who excels in the public education system has in many ways succeeded in the face of major obstacles with which those of us fortunate to attend SMA and other quality private schools did not contend, and is likely to have a deep insight into the problems that must be addressed in that sector.
Limiting The Scholarship to the Citadel or VMI was, after all, viewed as being more "restrictive" than a state university, as the pool of applicants would be much smaller, and it would not include students with a desire to become teachers, which would be most meaningful to John, above all other factors. And, the military colleges cannot compete with the best state universities in their schools of education.
As to the recipient having the choice of school, that route imposes the burden on The Scholarship to bear the cost of administration, which includes IRS compliance and reporting, advertising, screening, selecting and monitoring candidate performance. Not a practical course of action for us to follow; it is a big job that we can't do. With a university, you've got a built in, ready-to-go instrument of giving where it will get results. The university systems are government/IRS approved and set up to administer the criteria of the various endowments they manage. And, all alumni can be assured that through active monitoring we will maintain control of the required criteria we set. In addition, a state university also answers to state oversight, which brings us to the question of Florida State University.
There is no SMA for which to have a scholarship fund or else we would. But there is a fine university that John Deal attended for four years and was also proud of, a university with an excellent College of Education that produces dedicated and motivated teachers who will go into the academic world as leaders, in the SMA name and in John's honor, in perpetuity, and John would be more than pleased.
Education was what was most important to John, and his biggest reason in wanting to build another school was to have it staffed with the best teachers obtainable and to provide a credo for excellence, like SMA, that he felt is missing in today's educational system. Now, we can create a scholarship that will help a few excellent students in need to become great teachers, and that desire of John's, to act on behalf of better education, will live on through him, through those teachers and their students, and in the name of the school he loved the most: Staunton Military Academy.
The concern over using FSU wasn't really about FSU, it was about using any single university. Everyone has their favorite university, but there's no way you can do an endowment through all of them. It has to be through one, and better a state university than private, and better a state school that has ROTC verses one that may not. In the end, it was clear that which school is not really the concern, as long as it is a good one and that the endowment is properly managed, monitored and with prescribed criteria being followed.
Every university in the U.S. has established foundations, at significant cost, for the purpose of maintaining endowment activity. FSU, although a state college of Florida, draws students from most states of the U.S. and around the world, so, much like Stanford or UCLA, it is a multi-geographical institution. The important thing, it is agreed, is that the school be a very good one with a broad diversity of student demographics and a strong college of education. FSU is that, among the nation's best state universities, and as such, it has a vast pool of qualified applicants for aid and is an excellent venue for the year-to-year carrying forth of both the name of Staunton Military Academy and John's remembrance. If John had graduated from Po-dunk U, then we would have a serious problem in trying to create a viable scholarship in SMA's name and in honor of his commitment to education and to keeping SMA ideals alive.
The opportunity to perpetuate the SMA name through a great state university, and the ability to follow the career of the honoree scholars we will be helping, and to share in the accomplishment that the endowment will create, all of these reasons should be sufficient incentive to cause all alumni who have feelings for their SMA experience or John to participate. No longer do we have to say that we attended a school that doesn't exist any longer. We now are able to say we attended a school that continues to stand for excellence in education through its endowment at FSU, and through the years, who can say how significant The Scholarship will become with continued contributions?
Regardless of the size of anyone's contribution, that will be kept confidential, this is the first chance that we have had to really do something concrete in the name of SMA and an alumni who loved SMA as much as any other ever did. We have seen significant funding raised before with nothing really worthwhile to show for it. What we do here will live on beyond any of us and contribute to the betterment of America through the eventual line of teacher-to-be scholars that benefit from The Scholarship, and their countless students, regardless of whether that teacher was an SMA descendant or not. That is the essence of what all of us have hoped to see reborn in SMA, and it is also what John cared most about, and this scholarship fund will provide exactly that kind of rebirth, in a small but very meaningful and far-reaching way.
Lastly, the question of restricting the endowment to SMA descendants only was raised, and unfortunately, there is a good possibility that we might go years without an SMA descendant, and in any case, restricting a university fund to only SMA descendants is not practical. SMA descendants will have preference, and we will advertise The Scholarship, and any SMA descendant in need will be able to apply for the aid at FSU with the assurance of preferences outlined in the criteria. Any of them who become aware of the endowment and are in need of assistance could do a lot worse than attend FSU. If some alumni would prefer not to contribute without the honoree having an SMA tie, then so be it. But it is hoped that we can get broad and continuing participation, regardless of the size of contributions.
Thanks go to the alumni group that helped formulate this endowment prospectus, which appears below, to the founding contributors who made The Scholarship a reality, and to those who will contribute to its growth in the future, in the name of the alumni, past faculty and administrators, and the tradition that was, and is, and now, will always be Staunton Military Academy.
The Endowment
We have established The Staunton Military Academy - John Deal Education Scholarship (hereafter referred to as The Scholarship) at the Florida State University College of Education, a perpetual endowment that will represent for all SMA alumni and posterity the educational legacy of SMA and the spirit of John Deal to keep it alive.
The University
John G. Deal graduated from Florida State University in 1958 with a B.S., majoring in Management from the College of Business. John often expressed his pride in FSU.
Florida State University is a state university of Florida, but its student body is composed from most states of the U.S. and many countries around the world; it is a multi-geographical institution of higher learning with sixteen major academic divisions: the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Communication, Education, Engineering, Human Sciences, Law, and Social Science; and the Schools of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Film (Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts), Information Studies, Music, Nursing, Social Work, Theatre, and Visual Arts and Dance.The colleges and schools offer courses of study in 25 major disciplines. In addition to the associate in arts certificate, they offer 91 authorized baccalaureate degree programs covering 190 fields, 97 authorized master's degree programs covering 167 fields, 28 authorized advanced master's and specialist degree programs covering 36 fields, one authorized professional degree program covering seven fields, and 72 authorized doctoral degree programs covering 132 fields. Click here for a comprehensive outline of Florida State's education and research programs and institutes, and click here for an overview of Florida State.
FSU works hard to find ways to provide an education to as many students as it can afford to welcome. During the past five years, the number of National Merit Scholars choosing Florida State has increased from 40 for the 1994-95 academic year to 73 for the 1998-99 year. A noteworthy aspect of the young scholars who choose Florida State is the degree to which they were recruited by other colleges and universities, and because an applicant's choice often comes down to financial aid, Florida State has made a commitment to make education as affordable as possible for those special students. The tuition cost at FSU in 1998 was number 48 in the nation, so FSU has about the best educational bang for the buck available, and each year, the FSU Office of Financial Aid awards and administers more than 160 million dollars in financial aid to eligible students. These students receive aid in the form of scholarships, grants, work-study, and loans.
Funding Goals
In order to establish a named endowment at FSU, a minimum of $10,000 must be, and has already been contributed, but that amount does not fund even a one-half scholarship for one student for one year. $25,000 funds a perpetual one-half scholarship, and $50,000 is required for a really impacting, perpetual, full scholarship for one student for one year.Our endowment fund is pooled into the FSU Foundation's investment portfolio in order to minimize operating costs and maximize returns. The Scholarship principal, and any future matching funds, shall not be invaded or allocated for any purpose other than as specified in The Scholarship agreement and the criteria therein, which are reflected in this prospectus. We can skip a year if we like and double-up later in order to grant a more significant scholarship, and if we do skip, the initial fund plus later add-ons grows to the extent that there are investment gains in the Foundation's portfolio.
The initial contribution to The Scholarship, at the level of a named endowment ($10,000), was made by Hunter Henry, SMA '46, on the condition that the total amount pledged to The Scholarship reached at least the half-scholarship level of $25,000 before September 30, 1999, and that goal was met.
As many different ways as possible should be established that can productively and meaningfully keep the SMA name alive, and there is room for a diversity of options for our alumni. The Scholarship is real, perpetual, and it has been available since the fall of 2000, for descendants of SMA alumni on a preferred basis, and other applicants, and it is available now and in the future for fully tax-deductible giving (at any time), and all funds contributed go to the endowment--nothing is diverted for administration or any other purpose.
It is important that all of us do whatever can be done to spread the word about the scholarship's availability among our families. To that end, we have adjusted the SMA preferences in the criteria to allow otherwise qualified SMA descendants/relatives to qualify for scholarship consideration if applying for any program earning a B.S. degree, not just the College of Education, as was specified in the original pledge prospectus. And, please remember that this prospectus may be printed and mailed or faxed to alumni families not on the Internet, or I will be happy to send a copy if I am provided with either a fax or mailing address for our alumni.
Our goal for The Scholarship now is to grow it to the minimum level of a perpetual, full, one-year scholarship, $50,000, and for that, we will finally reach many of the alumni that we have previously not been able to reach, and we also hope that founding contributors and new contributors will find it a worthy program for continued giving to grow it through the years.
Preferred Funding
In contributing to a university scholarship, a donation of cash is the best, most direct form of contribution, but it is not the only way in which gifts may be donated to The Scholarship. We don't encourage gifts of assets such as land and art, because it is difficult for the Florida State University Foundation to convert them into immediate cash. But, if you own appreciated stock, it can be given directly to the Foundation, and they will sell it immediately, putting the money into The Scholarship account.A gift of this sort can have significant tax advantages for the donor, but whether or not you will benefit depends upon your individual situation, and if you are not an expert on the tax code, it is important that you check with your tax/financial advisor or accountant to determine what the after-tax value in deductions to you of such a gift to The Scholarship will be.
For tax purposes (deductions), the value of an appreciated securities gift will transfer to the donee at the average of the hi-low on the date the gift is given--Florida State University Foundation will sell it and credit The Scholarship with monies obtained at the price sold, depending on what the stock is doing at the time of sale, which sometimes is more than the value of the gift and sometimes less.
Contributing
Please note that the contact information for The Scholarship administrators provided in this prospectus is for correspondence and notification of contributions only. Funds should be sent only to the address below, with notification to Malcolm Kantzler.Please make your fully tax-deductible checks or money orders payable to:
and, this is important: in the memo section of your check, or on a separate enclosed note, write: SMA-John Deal Scholarship FSU Foundation
and mail it to:
Please notify me when you have sent your contribution check in to Florida State University Foundation and of the amount.FSU Foundation
Attn: Ms. Janine Welch
Scholarship Coordinator
225 University Center, Suite 3100
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2660
Revenue derived from clicking on ads contained within the ad-banner at the foot of this prospectus page go only to the scholarship fund.
Scholarship Administration
The soliciting, screening, selection and endowment process is done by FSU according to The Scholarship's criteria and the agreement.
Criteria
Since this is a small scholarship, we have limits as to how restrictive we can be with criteria. The larger the scholarship, the more leeway the scholarship administrators have with criteria, but a methodology by which SMA descendants will receive preference has been determined and is written into The Scholarship agreement.Scholarship criteria are that the applicant:
Descendants of Staunton Military Academy alumni shall receive preference:
- is a United States citizen,
- is maintaining a full course load,
- has maintained a 3.5 GPA in high school and/or previous college years,
- is in need of financial aid,
- is majoring in any teacher-education program within the College of Education,
- is entering the junior academic year,
- qualifying in an undergraduate year shall retain the scholarship for a single subsequent year, so long as a full course load is being carried, at least a 3.5 GPA is maintained, the applicant remains otherwise qualified to the criteria, and so long as there are no qualifying SMA alumni descendants applying during the subsequent year. The Scholarship awards will not be granted to support post-graduate study, except with the specific approval or request of the administrator(s).
- when competing criteria are equal,
- if his/her GPA is at least 3.5 and non-SMA descendant's GPA is at or above 3.5
- when there is no Staunton Military Academy-qualified applicant for the College of Education, preference shall be given to the Staunton Military Academy-qualified applicant working toward the Bachelor of Science degree in any other undergraduate program with the highest GPA.
- is entering any year, except if another qualified SMA descendant is a junior or senior, or
- if two qualified SMA descendants, award will be to the highest academic year.
Applying for Admission and The Scholarship
The scholarship-award openings are for the Winter/Spring semesters, annually. SMA-alumni descendants or others who meet the criteria of the endowment (specified above), and who wish to apply for admission to Florida State University and for scholarship consideration, should contact the registrar to obtain information, forms, and submit their applications:
Applicants must note in writing that they are also applying for consideration for The Staunton Military Academy - John Deal Education Scholarship, specifying it by name.Office of the Registrar
Florida State University
A3900 University Center
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2480Phone: 850/644-1050
E-mail: mcarrawa@admin.fsu.edu
Notification of intent to apply for The Scholarship's SMA preference must also be sent to the SMA Alumni Association and must include the applicant's full name, the full name, address, phone number and graduating year or attending years of the related SMA alumni, or the alumni's closest survivor if he has passed away, in order to verify preference eligibility and alert us to monitor the processing of the application and insure adherence to the criteria.
Reporting
A counter is on the home page of the site honoring SMA, and it will be updated as to the total level of contributions The Scholarship has received. Individual contributions are confidential and will not be posted. I will also profile the honorees and report on their progress as they proceed through their academic careers and into their professions. Financial reports on The Scholarship's growth and disbursements will be available through the administrator(s) or the FSU Foundation or linked to the above-referenced Web-site page.
Execution
The Scholarship is, as of August 31, 1999, established, with the second-phase goal of $50,000 for a full, perpetual, one-year scholarship, to which anyone may contribute at any time. All contributions are fully tax deductible.It is important that we advertise the endowment in the best effort to both get as broad a donor participation as possible and to make awareness of the endowment as widespread as possible among the families of our alumni so that they may benefit by it. Then, qualified SMA descendants will learn of the endowment and will receive their preferences should they choose to apply. Also, please bring The Scholarship to the attention of anyone who is a "friend" of SMA or of education.
Recipients
The
Staunton Military Academy - John Deal
Education Scholarship
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Crystal Mayhew
Congratulations to Crystal G. Mayhew, the first recipient of the SMA-John Deal Education Scholarship, awarded to her in September 2001. Crystal is the niece of Gary Gross, SMA '63, and she is a full-time student at Florida State University, maintaining a 3.42 GPA.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the [alumni] for the Scholarship that I received through Staunton Military Academy. I would like everyone to know how wonderfully I am doing in school. As challenging as this last semester was, I still received a 3.42 GPA, and I am currently taking pre-requisites classes for my major, which I will complete after spring semester, and then be admitted into the School of Business.While studying hard and making great grades, I have still had time to do community service work. Through the Greek system at Florida State and my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, we helped raise money for The American Red Cross this past semester. This was done through a cheerleading competition in which I participated. I am also a member of our Standards Committee for our sorority. I just wanted to let you know how appreciative I am of this Scholarship. Once again, thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Crystal G. Mayhew
