School of General Studies Holds Celebration for Scholarship Recipients

On Wednesday evening, March 20th, students, faculty, and alumni gathered in Low Memorial Library to celebrate the scholarship recipients at the School of General Studies, honoring the generous contributions of alumni and donors – many of whom were present to meet with their respective scholarship recipients. Student musicians added to the celebratory atmosphere throughout the event: a student jazz quartet played music as benefactors and their recipients mingled over dinner, and The Metrotones, an acapella student group, performed “Valerie” and “I Want You Back” towards the end of the night.

Dean Rosen-Metsch ‘90GS opened the program with introductory remarks.“For nearly eight decades, [GS] has evolved and thrived, offering Columbia a unique position in higher education with the only college of its kind… we know that there are many more opportunities than challenges, and I believe that with the power in this room, there are no challenges that we cannot meet together.” She then went on to address the donors directly, thanking them for their donations which make studying at Columbia possible for so many students. “This evening, we celebrate the generosity of Columbia GS alumni, parents, and friends… Every named scholarship recipient embodies why a college like GS is so critical to not just this university, which we care about so deeply, but also to the future of higher education and communities around the world. The students here tonight are unlike those anywhere else, and your support helps make their dreams become reality.”

Following Dean Rosen-Metsch, Susan Feagin ‘74GS took to the stage. Feagin, Executive Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations from 2002 to 2010 at Columbia University, and current Chair of the GS Board of Visitors, shared an anecdote about the beginnings of the GS Scholarship Celebration which brought together a “very elegant and genteel” donor with a recipient sporting a “very extreme mohawk haircut.” 

“We were like: we don’t know what’s going to happen, bringing the two of them together, so there was a moment of hesitation,” Feagin recalled. “And of course, they got on so well that they were friends for years after.” 

At the end of the dinner, student speaker Ebonnie Goodfield ‘24GS outlined her journey to GS, from her childhood growing up in a single-mother household which taught her the importance of resilience and her decision to join the US Navy, to her own experience as a single mother herself. She reflected on her non-traditional experience: “GS was and is that lighthouse you see from the open seas. It is a beacon for non-traditional, non-linear, non-conforming, non-insert-what-you-wish students like me, where my multifaceted identity as a veteran, working mother, first-generation, low-income, commuting, colored, and many other things student, is not just accepted but valued. When GS asked, "What's your story?" I found an institution ready to embrace my entirety.”

Goodfield turned towards the donors, expressing gratitude on behalf of all GS students. “As I stand here tonight honored to represent the diverse community of our school, I am reminded that your investment goes beyond my education and that it nurtures my fellow leaders in this room joined under the expansive canopy of our unique stories and identities.”