Greensboro Reporter

Greensboro Day School issued the following announcement on Sept. 25.

We are excited to announce that GDS Trustee Charles T. Hagan III has given the school $100,000 to establish the Kay R. Hagan Endowment for Public Purpose, which will provide funding for the Kay R. Hagan Center for Public Purpose.

Mr. Hagan made his gift in memory of his late wife, United States Senator Kay R. Hagan, who served as a Trustee of GDS and a North Carolina State Senator before she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008. Mr. Hagan’s gift establishing the Kay R. Hagan endowment fulfills the matching gift requirement of the school’s recent $100,000 grant from the prestigious Edward E. Ford Foundation.

The Kay R. Hagan Center for Public Purpose will support the school’s mission of educating students to become constructive contributors to the world and will realize the school’s Strategic Plan goal of developing global citizens who connect to and serve the greater Greensboro community with purpose and distinction. The Center’s program and activities will increase students’ awareness of local community problems and place them as agents of change for global problems at the local level.

Kay was very committed to public service. She was very active in encouraging others, especially women, to get involved in public service. This opportunity seemed to me to be a very appropriate way to let people remember Kay’s commitment to public service and to encourage them to be active in public life. My hope is that [the Kay R. Hagan Center for Public Purpose] will give Greensboro Day School students the opportunity to look at public service as a way to contribute to the public good.

CHIP HAGAN

“We were thrilled to receive a $100,000 grant from the E. E. Ford Foundation to establish a Center for Public Purpose,” said Head of School Tracie Catlett. “I am extremely grateful for Mr. Hagan’s matching gift, which will have a direct and lasting impact on our students and the Triad community. Naming the endowment in memory of U.S. Senator Kay Hagan is a wonderful tribute to her legacy of public service.” 

In addition, the Hagan family's gift brought a successful conclusion to Greensboro Day School’s 50Forward Campaign, which sought to raise $3 million in new endowment funds before December 31, 2022. Endowment growth allows GDS to be less reliant on tuition income, making a GDS education accessible to a diverse group of students from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.

Senator Kay R. Hagan, the late wife of Greensboro Day School Trustee Charles T. Hagan III, was the mother of three Greensboro Day School graduates (Jeanette Hagan ’98, Tilden Hagan ’02, and Carrie Hagan Stewart ’05) and the grandmother of three current GDS students (Harrison Stewart ’32, Blair Stewart ’34, and Emma Ruth Stewart ’36).  

Original source can be found here.