Giving to the Future

It’s the day of Collegiate’s Reunion Weekend, a Friday in late September that arrives with deliciously cool air that feels like the beginning of something new, and Faithea Foster P ’33 has been speaking with parents all morning. A leader by trade, working as the Association Director of Aging Well and the John Rolfe Branch of Operations Director for the YMCA of Greater Richmond, Foster feels it’s necessary to support the Collegiate education in any way she can. It’s a philosophy that she has adopted in her volunteer work at Collegiate. She is involved in the Parents of Students of Color (PoSoC) group at Collegiate, works with the Parents’ Association and has served as a Lower School Admission tour guide, but, really, she goes wherever she feels her help is needed.

Bearing a smile that invites a soothing warmth, she talks about the morning’s conversations. Foster speaks of her work with the School in terms of opportunities, not of burdens. She views volunteering as her duty and as a way to effect positive change. “This morning we had a meeting with some leadership from the Parents’ Association and people from the Parents of Students of Color to brainstorm how we can serve our community better,” she begins. “Then I got to speak with our diversity consultant Dr. Gene Batiste, where we got to brainstorm yet again about the goals of how to move Collegiate forward. And then the last opportunity I have today is to plan more engagement events for parents.”

Her time is a gift she gives out of appreciation, and it’s all in the name of making Collegiate a more inclusive, engaging learning environment. From the time her son Nelson entered Kindergarten at Collegiate, Foster noticed the careful attention each of his teachers gave him. “There is certainly this academic rigor at Collegiate, but with that rigor comes this extra touch that the teachers give the students,” Foster says. “For example, when a teacher calls home to share that my child had a challenging time during this particular exercise in class and that everyone’s working to fix that, well, I don’t see that as punitive at all. I see that as a way of saying, ‘I care about your child’s success, I noticed this and let’s work on this together as a team.’ I think that’s beautiful — this village of faculty and staff supporting students.”

It’s because of the beauty of a Collegiate education that she gives back. Growing up, Foster’s grandmother always reminded her to leave something better than she found it. Foster’s tried living out those words her entire life. “What I get out of Collegiate is knowing that the School has a long history of building great citizens,” she says. “And I get out of it the opportunity to be a part of helping the School continue to thrive. I want to pour more into the School because it pours so much into our 3rd Grader and our family.”