On April 14, UNC Kenan-Flagler hosted a reception connecting scholarship and fellowship donors with their student recipients at the School’s Kenan Center. This is the first reception of its kind held at UNC Kenan-Flagler, designed to help donors see the impact of their giving.

Nearly 100 people attended the event, including donors, faculty, staff and 60 student scholarship and fellowship recipients. Following the reception, attendees gathered for a brief program featuring welcoming remarks from UNC Kenan-Flagler Dean James Dean, donor remarks from Highwoods Properties President and CEO Edward J. Fritsch (BSBA ’81) and student testimonials from recipients Chase Jones (BSBA ’11), Adam Cranmer (MAC ’11) and Emily Williams (MBA ’11).

Vicki Fritsch, recipient Emily Lambert and Ed Fritsch

Fritsch and his wife Vicki (BS ’81) established The Edward J. and Vicki J. Fritsch MBA Fellowship in 2009 and met their student recipient, Emily Lambert (MBA ’11), for the first time at the event.

In his remarks, Fritsch highlighted the importance of giving back in order to support students, enhance UNC Kenan-Flagler and attract the best and brightest students to the University and North Carolina in general. ”We wanted to enable a ‘line of sight’ on our gift, and the impact of donors’ efforts are sitting here in this room,” said Fritsch. “Those who supported scholarships and fellowships can feel the energy, creativity and intellect of some of the country’s best and brightest — now that is line of sight.” Fritsch concluded by quoting a favorite columnist, Erma Bombeck: “Do your giving while you’re living so you’ll be knowing where it’s going.”

Fritsch was recently recognized for his lifetime real estate achievements and positive impact on the Triangle community, receiving the prestigious “Pillar Award” of excellence from Triangle Business Journal.

Undergraduate student speaker Chase Jones, a recipient of The Ewing Schleeter Harris BSBA Scholarship, commented on how the scholarship has impacted him:

“I’m a cancer survivor. In my junior year, I organized the BaseBald for the Cure fundraiser in my junior and senior years that raised $10,000 annually for pediatric oncology. My main extracurricular activity was giving back to the UNC Children’s Hospital. Receiving the Ewing Schleeter Harris BSBA Scholarship validated that what I was doing was important. It inspired me to stay on the nonprofit track.”

“Meeting the scholarship donors and hearing why they give their time, effort and resources to help students also inspired me. They don’t give just because they have too much money. Edward Fritsch talked about giving a chance to others in hopes that we will do the same for someone else down the line. I want to be one of those people.”