To Members of the Emma Willard Community:

In early June, on a brilliant blue sky day, we celebrated an important historic moment: 2,500 guests joined us as the Class of 2009 became the 100th class to graduate on our Mount Ida campus. The day was perfect in every way, from the sun’s warmth to the proud faculty; from the cheering student body to the brass quartet. What a capstone for the year, and a fitting image to share as I write with an update on the events of this past spring, including the steps we have taken to sustain the school’s legacy of leadership.

When I wrote in January, I reported that the economic downturn threatened our three primary sources of revenue: endowment, tuition, and gift income. I discussed budget reductions made necessary by our loss of endowment income. Since June 30, 2008 (the end of Emma Willard’s last fiscal year) we have experienced a decline of 30.7 percent. While this figure compares favorably with the S&P’s 36.4 percent decline, and with the investment performance of many comparable schools, the reality it presented was stark: our immediate challenge was to reduce our operating budget by at least $1.5 million. We responded by trimming more than $2 million from the budget over the next two years, looking ahead to create a window for an inclusive round of planning. Some of these decisions were painful, never more so than when they touched members of the Emma Willard community directly. At all times, however, our unwavering dedication to a mission that remains as relevant today as it did nearly 200 years ago made many of the choices more obvious than you might think.

We planned prudently for a conservative enrollment season, yet our applications actually increased by 3 percent. We have surpassed our enrollment target for day students, and we are on target to meet our boarding student goal over the summer. Not surprisingly, this year both newly admitted and returning students exhibited greater financial need. While we could not accommodate every request for aid, 45 percent of our student body will receive scholarship assistance during the upcoming academic year. This is a higher percentage than at most of our peer schools and is consistent with Madame Willard’s historical commitment to access.

The Annual Fund is running slightly ahead of last year’s pace with a week remaining in the fund year. Here again, we appear to be faring better than many other institutions—clearly a tribute to our alumnae, parents, and friends, whose commitment to Emma Willard is unflagging at a time when thoughtful individuals are being even more discriminating about the causes they support.

Not surprisingly, as with institutions and organizations across the philanthropic spectrum, multi-year pledges to endowment—the prime focus of Emma Willard’s $75 million campaign—have slowed. Nevertheless, by early June gifts and pledges to the campaign had surpassed $65 million, more than any other campaign undertaken by a girls’ boarding school.

To be on Mount Ida this past spring meant experiencing, on an almost daily basis, the stunning juxtaposition between external challenges and internal successes. It also offered ample reminders of why we are all committed to this school, this faculty, and these girls. A few highlights:

• An April campus visit by Greg Mortenson, humanitarian and co-author of Three Cups of Tea, allowed an audience of 1,200 Emma students, faculty, parents, and alumnae to hear him discuss his efforts to promote girls’ education in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

• Ten students and three faculty members traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, over spring break to volunteer at Layla House, an orphanage housing over 150 children, and AHOPE, an orphanage dedicated to HIV-positive children. While there, they interviewed a prospective Davis Scholar who will join us next fall!

• Twenty students spent two days at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and the Goddard Flight Center outside Washington, D.C., learning first-hand about modern astronomy and sophisticated aspects of space exploration.

• Through a new science internship program, twelve students pursued semester-long research projects at RPI’s biotechnology research center, the New York State Museum’s ornithology department, and the Wadsworth Center, the public health laboratory of the New York State Department of Health.

• Freshman Celeste Pomputius and junior Libby Hughes won the National Scholastic Rowing Championship in lightweight doubles—Emma’s first national championship in any sport!

• Aaryn Vaughan ’12 won first place in the regional English-Speaking Union’s Shakespeare Competition, and went on to compete in the nationals in New York City—the only freshman in the country to earn that distinction.

These accomplishments remind me that regardless of where the Dow Jones stands, every day Emma girls are having—and are making happen—transformational experiences. Our students, faculty, and staff are living through these trying times with tenacity and verve, celebrating excellence, looking for moments of humor, and feeling fortunate to be in a community that cares and in a place that matters.

Leontyne Price, the American operatic soprano, counseled that, “You should always know when you are shifting gears in life. You should leave an era; it should never leave you.” Trust me when I say that Emma Willard is leaving an era. We know that even if the economy should turn around tomorrow, for this school and all others, the world has changed, probably permanently. We are determined to manage through these changes, not to these changes. In so doing, and with your help, we will ensure that for its second 100 years on Mount Ida, Emma Willard remains the gold standard for empowering girls to make a difference in the world.

As ever, thank you for your support.