This year, our fall gala raised more than ever before.

Thanks to the tireless efforts, prayers, and dedication of our volunteer gala committee, we hosted a wildly fun and successful event. We welcomed dozens of new members to The Summit community, raised substantially more than $200,000—an increase of 28% over last year and more than half of our Annual Fund—and continued building The Summit’s reputation as a private institution serving the public good in the Fredericksburg region.

Enthusiastic auction winners took home several international trips, local winery and brewery tours, a hand-carved charcuterie board and a kneeler, and more. In addition, during our donation portion of the program, three generous benefactors pledged $30,000 in matching gifts, which gala attendees helped us not just fulfill, but double.

We are so grateful for the outpouring of support for our students, faculty, and programs. We are richly blessed.

During the course of the evening, we heard moving speeches from several key community members, including founder Julian Malcolm, board member Barb Grasso, and senior Shawn Amato. My opening remarks, which outlined the gala’s purpose, are reproduced below:

A Columbia University professor recently told The Atlantic that many of today’s Ivy League students have never read a single book cover to cover—not a single book. Jonathan Haidt’s new book, meanwhile, chronicles how digital technology is harming today’s young people in unprecedented ways.

These major shifts in our culture remind us why the Summit Academy is so valuable to our community. We have carefully crafted something like the exact opposite situation at our school, something extraordinary by today’s standards. At the Summit Academy, we have almost all reading and almost no digital technology.

At The Summit, young men and women are invited to learn how to think, what to love, and how to live. This kind of education matters for more than the individual accomplishments each student will someday achieve. Education oriented toward truth and virtue really does change the world.

Institutions that do this well are hard to find. All of us in this room are fortunate to be a part of just such a place. People are moving to Fredericksburg for this school, and they’re even persuading their adult children to move here, so that their children’s children can someday attend The Summit.

In order to reach that future, we need to understand where we are today. Each and every year, we need the help of our entire community to keep our school running.

Every year, on or around March First, The Summit Academy begins operating on donated funds rather than on tuition revenue. Every independent school faces this reality. We need more than tuition to keep open our doors. That day, March First, when we begin to rely on donations, is the day that makes this day so important. With your contributions tonight, we are able to keep providing our students, faculty, and programs with what they need to flourish. So, thank you for your generosity.

When we conclude tonight’s program, I hope you will understand, in a deep and lasting way, why the Summit Academy is important and why your contributions are essential. In addition to plenty of time for conversation, our auction, and dancing, tonight we will hear from three people: our school’s founder, a current board member, and a student from this year’s senior class. Each will tell us how The Summit has transformed his or her life. I hope that each of you already has a similar story, or that you someday will.

At the Summit Academy, we are not just running a school. We’re building a legacy. What happens here tonight goes a long way towards allowing that legacy to continue.

Onward and upward!

—Nick Marr, Director of Advancement