THE CAROL SCHAEFER STORY:
A LIFETIME OF GIVING
By Christopher Hann
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It was supposed to be a small gathering at Havemeyer House. One evening last April, Carol Schaefer and her husband, Chuck, were invited to have dinner with Ramapo College President Peter Mercer and his wife, Jacqueline Ehlert-Mercer, as well as three seniors who had received an annual scholarship provided by Carol Schaefer. The President wanted Carol to meet the recipients of her generosity-she'd met only a few in the 20 years since she started the scholarship-and he wanted them to meet her.
But when she and her husband stepped inside Havemeyer House, they entered a room crowded with people she did not recognize. There must have been 40 in all, milling about, chatting. Carol knew the Mercers, of course, and she saw a handful of administrators and professors she knew, including Cathleen Davey, the vice president for institutional advancement, and Mitch Kahn, the director of the Social Work Program. But most of the guests were not at all familiar. Maybe there's another function going on tonight, she thought to herself. Eventually, she asked, "Who are all these people?"
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And that's when Carol learned it was not just an intimate dinner after all. This was much bigger. This was a celebration of the Carol Schaefer Human Services Award, which Carol has provided to more than 75 seniors - all bound for graduate school, all committed to working in the social services field. "These are the people," Jackie Ehlert-Mercer told Carol, "that you have given scholarships to in the past 20 years."
Carol was stunned. She looked around the room. Twenty years of her life unfolded before her in a mosaic of former Ramapo students, some of them recently graduated, others already retired. Each of the award winners had been invited, and some 30 were able to attend. All had embarked on careers that Schaefer had helped launch. Collectively, their work spanned the life cycle: Some cared for abused children, some counseled families in crisis, some comforted the elderly in hospice care. They were a generation of students who together had fulfilled a vision that Schaefer had embraced when she initiated the scholarship two decades earlier: "If I could help one person, and they each helped twenty people a week," Carol says, "imagine the ripple effect that has."
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Carol has grown closer to Ramapo since her graduation in 1985. She served on the Foundation's Board of Governors for 12 years. She received the President's Award of Merit at graduation in 1997 and was honored at the Distinguished Citizen's Dinner in 2002. But in all her years of service and philanthropy toward the college, Carol's annual scholarship stands out as a monumental achievement. The annual award has grown over the years to $20,000, which was most recently divided among three members of the class of 2008. For many years, Carol funded the awards personally from salary and stocks. Recently, her husband Chuck joined her, allowing them to increase the amount of the awards.
"To further demonstrate her commitment to this scholarship, Carol had the vision to establish a bequest to fund these awards in perpetuity," says Davey. "We are so very honored to have this lasting legacy in Carol's name."
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Carol was a nontraditional student when she enrolled at Ramapo. She was nearing 40, the mother of three adolescents. She was serving as the president of the board of directors for a counseling center based at her church. The therapist there recognized her aptitude for psychology-the subject had always interested her-and he suggested that Schaefer consider going back to school. As a young woman she'd earned an associate's degree at Centenary College in Hackettstown, but she hadn't stepped foot inside a college classroom in two decades. Doubt gnawed at her. I'm too old. I don't have a good memory. I'm not academic.
"What are you afraid of?" the therapist said. "Not being able to find your car in the parking lot? Not being able to find your classroom?" "Yes," Carol replied. "All of the above."
She started slowly, taking a single course, basic psychology, taught by Marshal Harth. Four days a week in the summer. Carol loved it. Loved everything about it. So she continued her studies. Every class seemed better than the one before. Schaefer was hooked. She was, she recalls, "like a kid in a candy shop."
She graduated with honors in 1985 with a degree in psychology, a recipient of the President's Scholar Award. Two years later she earned a master's degree in clinical social work from Columbia University, then completed a program in family therapy at the University of Pennsylvania. Carol then embarked on a career as a clinical social worker that would include a private practice based in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She also organized workshops for parents and teachers. Later she was appointed a clinical instructor at the Yale Child Study Center where she was supervised and taught master level social work and psychology students. Today she maintains a strong association at the Center and the School of Medicine.
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Yet when she left Ramapo she could not leave behind the memories of her fellow students, who were equally dedicated to their studies and committed to a life of helping other people. Like her, some had returned to school as adults, balancing work and family responsibilities even as they excelled in the classroom. She remembered those students-their drive, their heart-and when she finished her own studies, she set out to make their worlds a little lighter.
"I got the idea for the scholarship when I was sitting in class and realizing there were so many students that made such sacrifices for their education," Schaefer says. "And they were so bright, so driven, but some didn't have the money to go on to get a master's degree."
When she finished her studies at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center, Carol approached Ramapo with an idea to fund a scholarship for a senior in social work or psychology-someone who wanted to attend graduate school, someone who, as Carol says, "could make a lasting contribution in human services." For Carol it was all about the ripple effect. "She's interested in the students that really want to make a difference, who are interested in social justice and social change," Kahn says.
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Twenty years on, the impact of the Carol Schaefer Human Services Award has exceeded even the expectations of its benefactor. At the time Carol instituted the scholarship, she was just beginning her own professional career. It was the mid 80s, she was in her forties, living in suburban New Jersey where most of her women friends were still staying at home in traditional roles. In addition to wanting to institute this scholarship, it was meaningful to Carol that she funded it with her own resources. She was a woman determined to use her own energy, financial and otherwise, to help others along the path that was so important to her. And that night, when at President Mercer's request, one student after another rose from their seats and recounted what it meant to receive the Carol Schaefer Award, what they said touched one's heart. It was beyond the money. Someone recognized their accomplishments. Someone believed in them. Someone supported their dreams. Someone inspired them to forge a career and valued helping others. And Carol Schaefer didn't just believe in the goodness and meaning of helping others-it was the way she lived her life.
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President Mercer recalled the testimony paid to Carol that night. "Carol is wonderful in many ways. She is an intelligent professional, a sophisticated woman, well educated, involved in many cultural activities, but Carol is also a woman of great heart, and that night she did not hide her delight. Everyone could see how genuinely thrilled she was to see the difference that her contribution had made."
Many of the scholarship winners said they never would have been able to attend graduate school without Carol's help. Carol was especially delighted to hear that some of the students had committed themselves to fields, such as pediatric oncology or prison work, in which she had declined offers of work, believing she was not up to the task.
At the Schaefer Dinner, held at the Havemeyer House on April 26, scholarship recipients returned to honor Carol Schaefer.
As she listened, a lump grew in her throat. "All I could think of was what a wonderful way to be honored," she recalls. "Nothing could top this, to hear each person talk about their work and what it meant to them and the impact on countless others."
She heard from students such as Donna Brennan (class of '91), who even in her retirement continues to volunteer as a hospice worker. She heard from Christina Rosas (class of '99), who went on to law school and today provides pro bono services for those trying to dig out of debt. She heard from Valerie Blouin (class of '04), who works with children with behavioral and emotional issues. She heard from Laurel Young (class of '08), who in May will graduate from the University of Albany with a master's degree in social work and who aspires to work for issues related to social justice.
Brennan, now 72 and living in HoHoKus, New Jersey, says she was honored to have the chance to thank Schaefer, whom she'd never met. "I admire her for the dedication to the cause of improving the human condition," Brennan says. And I think that's what the award is about. I feel you don't just walk away from that. You pay it forward. You take that honor and you try to continue the work of making the world a more compassionate place."
The morning after the dinner, Schaefer sat down to write a letter of thanks to President Mercer and his wife. "How can I ever express my gratitude for a most meaningful evening," she wrote. "Every year when I read each application for the award I am moved by the spirit of promising students who are committed to making a lasting contribution to society and to the social service field. All I can say is that it was and is a privilege to be able to help these students, and also be part of a community that values and honors its students, its professors, and life."
