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| Above:
Rachel E. Dry ’00 and David H. Roman ’00 handing
out copies of the Exonian at commencement
1999 |
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In
honor and support of Exeter’s outstanding teachers
and curriculum, David Roman ’00 and his parents,
Gail and Ted, have recently established a fund for
curricular and professional development at the Academy.
“Toward the end of my senior year, we began talking
about doing something as a family for Exeter,” says
David. “The quality of the academic and personal
relationships I established with teachers at the
Academy was an inspiration in that regard. I was
so impressed with the faculty’s hunger for learning
more and creating a superior learning environment.”
David’s
parents were equally as impressed with the commitment
of the faculty. In fact, Gail, an art historian
specializing in intellectual history, got to experience
the Exeter academic culture first-hand when she
coordinated an exhibit on contemporary Russian
art for the Lamont Gallery during David’s senior
spring. “I spent a week on campus organizing the
exhibit and getting to know some of the faculty,”
she says. “Having observed the Exeter curriculum,
I was mightily impressed. The strength and innovation
combined were extraordinary.”
The
Roman Family Fund was created with the intent
of assisting the Academy in maintaining the vitality
of course offerings and in supporting the need
for faculty to remain at the forefront of their
teaching disciplines. The fund will be used to
support both faculty professional development
(by subsidizing conference attendance, travel
and research) and comprehensive curricular reviews,
whether those reviews are undertaken by individual
departments or by the entire Academy community.
Uniquely, the Roman Family Fund will give preference
to those projects in which faculty involve students
either as active participants in the development
of new curricula or as beneficiaries of an enrichment
activity beyond the classroom that results from
faculty members’ innovations and explorations.
“We
wanted to create a fund that would exist over
time—something that would last and to which members
of our family could contribute in the future,”
says Ted Roman.
In
reflecting on their son’s experience at the Academy,
the Romans are forthright. “David wouldn’t have
grown in the ways he did had he not had the Exeter
experience,” says Gail, “and neither would we.
Ted and I actually relived some of our own academic
experiences through David, and somewhat jealously,
I might add.”
David,
now a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania
and clearly transformed by his Exeter experience,
says, “The Academy encourages faculty and students
to explore things at a very meaningful level.
Intellectual, as well as nonintellectual, interests
are pursued with intensity and passion.” Gail
adds, “David thrived at Exeter. He took so much
away. It’s an important place for him and always
will be. We wanted a way to give something back.”
Now,
thanks to the Roman family’s prescience and generosity,
young, creative minds such as David’s will continue
to derive knowledge and inspiration from a faculty
and curriculum that are continually refreshed.
Right:
Theodore S. Roman and Gail H. Roman, Ph.D. P’00
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