The Maecenas Fund > Current Newsletter

To all our friends:

We got the first semester grades from our Scholars late this month and wanted to share a tremendous feeling of joy with our supporters. As most folks are aware, the first semester of the freshman year is the most difficult in many, many ways for most students.

It is normally

The first time they have lived away from their family

The first time they are 100% responsible for their time and how they use it.

The first time they are exposed to a broad array of temptations that can divert their course-work focus.

The first time they don’t have their friends and historical support structure near at hand.

The first time they are seriously challenged academically.

All in all, it is a time when it is very easy for the wheels to come off, which happens for many students, particularly at such a large school as Arizona State University (over 40,000 undergraduates!). Given that our Freshmen are all the first in their families to go to college, one might think that they would be particularly at risk.

But, one would be wrong in such thinking.

While we don’t make it a practice of sharing the grades of our Scholars, we feel that this is a good moment to make an exception, since we see our Class of 2007 performing exceptionally well and in a particularly trying atmosphere.

Here are the first semester GPAs of our Freshmen, along with the number of units they took in the semester, as well as the total units they had earned toward graduation at the end of the first semester. Most of our Scholars had taken college-level courses while in high school, which is why they have more units toward graduation than just those earned in their first semester.

Student	GPA	1st Semester Units	Total Units Toward Graduation
Freshman A	3.2	17	26
Freshman B	3.3	14	27
Freshman C	4.2	17	38
Freshman D	4.1	15	24
Freshman E	3.5	13	18

So, you may be asking, “How does one get a GPA higher than a 4.0?” Answer: one gets all A grades, and one gets a few A+ grades sprinkled in!

Since the requirements for graduation include that a student earn 130 units, the average semester course load to graduate in four years is 15 units. All of our 2007 Scholars finished their first semester with more, in some cases substantially more, than the 15 units toward graduation that are needed to be on track.

All I can say is “Wow!”

These students, with their diligence, focus and effort, are validating your generous support of them.

Please keep it up. They deserve it.

Best regards,
Peter Gaskins
President