Robert & Megan Glimcher Leadership Fund

As a business person and a philanthropist, WT trustee Robert Glimcher understands how important leadership is to build a successful career and to be a productive and engaged citizen. So he and his wife, Megan, who are parents of Layne (Class of 2017) and Brock (Class of 2020), wanted to help Winchester Thurston develop citizens who not only understand how to be leaders, but who will practice leadership toward making a difference in their communities and in the larger world. In 2007, with a multi-year pledge to the school, they created the Robert and Megan Glimcher Leadership Fund in the Winchester Thurston School endowment to support the Middle School Leadership Academy. The Glimchers' gift will be invested as principal that generates income to provide ongoing support for this program.

Because of the Glimchers' generosity, Middle School faculty members Adam Brownold and Jeff Cronauer have expanded what was the Leadership Lab, an outdoor education program focused on team-building and self-awareness, into a comprehensive Leadership Academy.

"Due to the kindness and generosity of the Glimchers, the program is growing and becoming a truly integral part of the Middle School experience at Winchester Thurston," says Brownold.

At each grade level, students are adopting a cause and applying their creativity, initiative, and team spirit to develop and implement projects that support it. Throughout the process, the students learn about philanthropy by being philanthropists, about community problems by creating solutions, and about themselves as leaders by effecting change in a small part of the world.

"To me, the concept of leadership encompasses civic responsibility, philanthropy, problem-solving, and initiative," says Glimcher. "Megan and I appreciate Winchester Thurston's experiential approach to learning; we know kids learn best by participating and discovering. We also appreciate the school's intention to develop engaged citizens. It's important to us, and we wanted to support it, especially at the Middle School level, when social learning is so important, and students can really benefit from experiencing the larger world and seeing themselves as part of it, with a responsibility to more than just themselves."

For more information about this, or other awards, please contact: Monica Manes Gay, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, at 412-578-3746 or gaym@winchesterthurston.org.