The Formative Years

During recess at Fort Cougar, the Lower School playground, noises of jubilance are amplified. Sunlight filters through an overcast mid-September day and splashes with warmth on students as they climb on monkey bars, coast down slides and soar on swings, their feet reaching towards the sky. Beth ’72 and Ry Marchant ’71, taking in the effortless joy common in Lower Schoolers, spot their granddaughter Liza ’35 running towards them, her arms stretched wide and ready for a hug.

Beth and Ry radiate with admiration as they watch the scene. In so many ways, it is the same atmosphere they experienced as Collegiate students themselves. “Collegiate was a formative time for me,” Ry says. “I think back to all my growth during my time here, and I think back to all the teachers and coaches who had such a strong influence on me. So it really is special to see children today still benefiting from that same Collegiate education.”

 

Knowing firsthand the diligence with which the School approaches academics, Ry and Beth sent their two children, Meg and Reilly, to Collegiate. Meg graduated in 1998 and Reilly, who met his wife Lizzy, a Class of 2004 alumna and now a 2nd Grade Teacher, during his time on North Mooreland Road, graduated in 2003.

 

“Seeing Collegiate through our children’s eyes — and now watching our granddaughter Liza attend the School — you realize once again how valuable those experiences are,” Ry says. “When you graduate from Collegiate, there is this big wide world waiting for you, and, from personal experience, I know that this School does a great job of preparing students for that world.”

 

But Ry and Beth Marchant are not just great benefactors of Collegiate; they are also great and indelible supporters of everything the School offers. “Collegiate was like family to

me,” Beth says. “The teachers, my friends, the athletics and the traditions we experienced together — all of this gave me a foundation that carried me throughout my life. I’m proud to be a Collegiate alumna, and I want the School to succeed. Giving back to something that has given me so much is an obvious thing to do. It gives me joy to be a supporter.”