STUDENT SUPPORT

A Friend in the Kingdom

California's Silicon Valley is about as far as you can get from Hardwick, Vermont, and still remain on dry land. But college-bound students living in Hardwick have a friend in San Jose, California, and his name is Dick Fisher '47, '49.

Dick Fisher is a native Vermonter who's come a long way since graduating from high school in his hometown of Hardwick in 1941. But he's not one to forget his roots. A skillful stock market investor over the years, he says he wanted to share his own good fortune by offering scholarship support for students from Hardwick and the Northeast Kingdom who need help in meeting their expenses at UVM.

The retired Silicon Valley sales executive earned two degrees from UVM — a bachelor of science in electrical engineering in 1947 and a bachelor of science in commerce and economics in 1949. He set up his scholarship with preference for those who want to study in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, he says, because Vermont and the nation need people with those skills more than ever. "I've lived in Silicon Valley since 1972," he says, "and throughout that period there has been a real shortage of engineering students coming out of our colleges and universities. The future is going to depend strongly on technical knowledge. If we don't do a better job of attracting talented students into these fields, eventually we'll fall behind the rest of the world."

Fisher started his fund with a gift of $500,000 in 1995 and built it to more than $1 million. That was his initial goal for the fund. But he's since taken steps to build it even further with an estate gift that will bring the total to an estimated $4-5 million and continue to provide increasing student support year after year.

"With the cost of education what it is today, practically everybody needs some financial help," Fisher says. "I'm glad I can offer it."

Since 2001, twenty-one UVM students have received some $240,000 in financial aid from the Richard Fisher Scholarship Fund.

Matthew Estabrooks was one of the Fisher Scholars, graduating in 2007 with a degree in civil engineering and a concentration in environmental engineering. Matthew's family moved to Guildhall, Vermont, when he was twelve, and he graduated from the St. Johnsbury Academy, where he proved to be a strong student in math and science. "I wasn't thinking about engineering when I was in high school, but I applied to the engineering school at UVM because it was in the math and science realm. I had taken AP Calculus in high school, so I was on track to do something like that."

Matthew experienced a personal family tragedy in his freshman year when his father died unexpectedly, leaving him concerned about how he would finance his UVM education. He said an advisor in the Dean's Office brought the Richard Fisher Scholarship to his attention, and he applied and ultimately received $15,000 in assistance over his remaining three years. "That made all the difference, knowing that I could count on that help. It took a lot of pressure off things for me and for my mother, too, because I also have an older brother who was in college at the same time."

Matthew had lined up his first engineering job even before graduating and now works with Sanborn, Head & Associates in its Randolph, Vermont, office, performing construction quality assurance for the expansion of a landfill in Coventry, Vermont. In the long-term, he says he wants to stay in Vermont and is interested in using his education to help improve air and water quality. "I'm a bit of an environmentalist, I guess," he says, "and I think engineering gives you an opportunity to make a difference in that area."

The Richard Fisher Scholarship made a real difference in his own life, he says. "I appreciate his generosity, his thoughtfulness in investing in education, and I hope someday that I can return the favor to someone else in need."