"I have always believed, ever since my own time at Exeter, that it's a fantastic school," says Frank Weil '48. "But I've also always felt there was a missing element there, a lack of recognition that even though Exeter's students are the brightest, most directed and energetic you'll find, some are not as fast as others to hit their stride. I was among those who were slow getting going." Yet after earning degrees with honors from Harvard College and Harvard Law, the man who is certain that his Exeter teachers would have described him as "hopeless," eventually went on to a 50+ year marriage, a career in law and investment banking, and to head the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce in the late 1970s. Today he still runs his family's private investment business.

Weil has also just endowed Exeter's first ever "most improved" prize. Or to be more specific, prizes, for the fund will permanently endow three annual awards to recognize students who have shown through their efforts and improvements a drive and capacity for lifelong growth. Each spring the Frank A. Weil '48 Prize for Exemplary Growth and Promise will be awarded to two seniors, one boy and one girl, whose names will be put forth by a faculty/student selection process to the principal for confirmation. Also one lower or upper will receive a Weil prize each year, hopefully to inspire the student community for the ensuing academic year. The endowment likewise calls for and supports a long-term linear study of the life achievements of the recipients with the hope that the evidence will lend added weight to the belief that slow starters are not always slow finishers.

"There are so many metrics in education today and a tendency to celebrate only the very highest achievers," reflects Weil, "thus it is my hope that these prizes will encourage the Exeter community to focus more on 'the journey taken' and spur onwards a lot more slow starters."