Back in 2015, a close-knit cohort of mechanical engineering alumni met for their 30th reunion. The group had stayed in touch over the years to continue on their friendships with regular get-togethers. While the group came back to campus for their reunion, they noticed that Waterloo Engineering had grown since they’d last been to campus with all of its new buildings and facilities, but also realized, as with most degrees, that the tuition had gone up since they were in school. They recognized the value of a Waterloo degree in their professional lives and got to thinking about how they could help students.
With no previous fundraising experience, in 2016, Phillip Toy and fellow classmate and alum Robert Van den Berg launched the Class of 1985 Mechanical Engineering Bursary, a first-year bursary that started out by being funded by seven donors, including the two former classmates. However, they didn’t want to keep asking their former classmates to donate. So, at their 35th reunion, they learned about the endowment approach and set a goal of $60,000, and within 6 months, the generous classmates had donated a total of $75,000.
Every year, the group garners more donors, and the fund balance is now over $150,000 from 95 gifts. More donations to this endowment fund mean more students are supported each year with a higher award value.
Rehnuma Tasneem (BASc ’24), has been one of the recipients of the award, and credits the award for helping her focus on her studies:
“It really reduced the stress of my first year. Everything was so new, which was exciting but busy and overwhelming too. My headspace filled up very quickly, and honestly, if I’d been worrying about money on top of everything else, I could easily have fallen behind in my studies. Instead, I could focus on what I needed to and build momentum for the rest of my degree.”
Alumni like the class of 1985 help support our students wherever they are in their student journey.
Read more on the generous mechanical engineering class and more about students who’ve benefitted in Waterloo News.