‘Golden Grads’ provide grants, scholarships, supplies for Roosevelt High School.
With Roosevelt High School’s 100th-anniversary celebration coming up in spring 2023, the Roosevelt Golden Grads are getting ready to celebrate.
The Golden Grads are an organization of Roosevelt alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago. Since its founding, the GG have impacted many aspects of the community, from grants and school supplies to scholarships.
According to GG President Doug Whalley, class of ‘63, the organization was started for two reasons: “One was to get together the older graduates who have more in common with the people in or around their year than they do with the current grads. And the other [reason]: the main purpose, was to raise money for Roosevelt in the form of scholarships and grants to the teachers for projects they’re doing, or for things that aren’t covered by the school district.”
For instance, teacher wish lists are lists of items needed in classrooms that are not available within the district-funded Roosevelt budget. The funds to support these, instead, come from the GG’s annual dues; GG members then vote on which items to fund and provide for Roosevelt. Whalley said, the GG “usually get together with the PTA, the school, and the Roosevelt Foundation … [and] give about $15,000 a year to the teachers for books, special programs, and sometimes pave the way for a group to go somewhere.”
According to Whalley, the English and science departments are usually the ones that require the most additional funding. He said, “Often in the English department, they’ve got a book they want to teach with and they need 30 copies and school can’t afford it” and that “quite often new [science] equipment comes out and they’d like to get it this year instead of waiting two or three years for the school district to okay it, so they’ll apply.”
Along with teacher wish lists, the GG provides scholarships. Depending on applications and funds, the GG can approve up to 12 scholarships per year. “We start with $10,000 and then we add to it anything that wasn’t used the year before,” Whalley said.
The organization also helps out with other scholarships such as one for football that has expanded to also apply to cheerleaders and band members. According to Whalley, “Sometimes we don’t get enough applicants on that scholarship. I can’t understand that, because most of the football players go on to college.”
On Nov. 2, it was announced that GG Don Strom, class of ’64, his wife Jane LaFazio, and a local artist donated $5,000 to visual arts scholarships. For the next five years, a Roosevelt arts instructor will annually pick one senior to receive $1,000 toward higher education.
Students can learn about and apply for GG scholarships at the Roosevelt Counseling Office and on Schoology.
The GG works to provide more than one type of grant — such as in collaboration with the Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity.
In spring 2021, RARE and the GG launched the James A. Davis Jr. Memorial Scholarship, which is annually awarded to two senior students of color who, according to the GG website, have “contributed to an atmosphere of racial equity at the school and in their communities and have shown a strong commitment to education.”
Whalley notes that “[RARE] raised 250,000 in funds just in a year”. Some donations come from benefactors or current Roosevelt families, but most are from GG members themselves.
Whalley reflected on the evolution of Roosevelt, “When I was there, it was the largest [high school] in the state. And there were no Black students and very few Asian students there. It was striking compared to Seattle’s schools now. And it’s been wonderful for us to sort of see the change in the school.”
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