Historic Lead for Tomorrow Campaign supports future generations of Scots
Bringing home a championship isn’t a solo effort, and neither is being successful in a classroom. Fortunately for students in Highland Park ISD, they have a winning team to help accomplish both.
“The impact of the community and how they put everything into their students so that they can grow up and be successful leaders in the world is just so unique,” said Armstrong Elementary third grade teacher Caroline Massey, who graduated from HPISD in 2020. “It is really telling based on how many people want to come back and serve their community.”
State funding for schools is complex and unpredictable, but the community’s support for HPISD has been unwavering.
Since launching the Lead for Tomorrow Campaign in January 2021, the Highland Park Education Foundation, a nonprofit which provides critical financial support for the district, has grown its Tartan Endowment from about $35 million to $67 million, including pledged gifts.
The campaign is intended to provide funding to meet the district’s needs today and help it financially adapt to future challenges. The Tartan Endowment is composed of permanent legacy funds. The foundation invests fund dollars and uses some of the annual earnings to support HPISD’s needs. But the funds themselves will continue to grow and support the district in perpetuity, explained the foundation’s senior director of advancement Allison Vanderwoude.
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“It’s a great way to make a long-term impact,” she said. “These funds will outlive you.”
The foundation plans to create a permanent wall in the Clements Center honoring all Lead for Tomorrow donors. Donors can join the campaign and create a legacy fund with a gift of at least $15,000, which can be pledged over several years.
The minimum pledge is significantly less than the amount required for the creation of similar funds at other institutions. The foundation deliberately kept the base low to encourage community participation before the Lead for Tomorrow Campaign wraps up at the end of 2026, Vanderwoude said.
With more than a year to go, the number of legacy funds has already almost quadrupled, from 50 at the start of the campaign to about 190 now. The new funds include ones from the Park Cities Dads Club, and each school’s parent teacher association or organization.
“I think it says a lot to our teachers. I think it says a lot to the community to say, ‘Oh my gosh, these people really care about our teachers and staff, and they care about education, and they want to see this district do great things,’” Vanderwoude said.
The Hegi Family, which has had 10 members attend HPISD schools, recently established a legacy fund with the dual aim of helping increase Highland Park’s teacher salaries and enabling the district to continue its legacy of educational excellence, Peter Hegi said.
He described teachers as the community’s unsung heroes and said that their pay is not commensurate to the lifelong impact they have on young learners.
“Just imagine a world where Highland Park can pay teachers top salaries,” he said. “We can attract the best and the brightest. We can keep them accountable. We can inspire the next generation of lifelong learners that will become the next generation of leaders that will change the world.”
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