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Harvard Schools Trust: Celebrating a surprise dedication and 35 years of enrichment

The Harvard Schools Trust celebrated its 35th anniversary on Sunday, Nov. 17, at Fruitlands with a reception to honor the organization and its members, both past and present. More than 50 attendees turned out for a surprise dedication to longtime members Sue Robbins and the late Worth Robbins.

Lindsay Burke, co-president of the trust, began opening remarks by highlighting the trust’s contributions to the education community in Harvard and formally recognizing board members Mary Traphagen, Didi Chadran, Molly Cutler, Tim Clark, Rolf vandeVaart, and Sue Robbins, who have stepped down over the past few years, by presenting them with gifts and applause. Burke then asked Robbins to remain at the podium while Burke gave a brief history of Robbins’ work with the Trust for the past 33 years.

From left: Roanne, Ken, and Sue Robbins celebrate after the anouncement of the renaming of the Harvard Schools Trust’s scholarship to the Harvard Schools Trust Robbins Award. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)

At the end of her remarks, Burke announced that the name of the annual scholarship given to a Bromfield senior would honor the couple by being officially known as the Harvard Schools Trust Robbins Award. As guests wiped away tears of gratitude and respect, another surprise was revealed when the Robbins’ son Ken and his wife Roanne of Durham, New Hampshire, joined the celebration.

“The scholarship naming was a unanimous decision,” said outgoing Harvard Schools Trust co-president Terry Symula. “What could be more appropriate to honor their legacy?” Sue has been a director for the trust for 33 years. During her tenure, she managed the technical elements of the organization such as its database and website. Sue also played a big role in marketing for the organization, which included creating and managing membership mailings and organizing large-scale events like the townwide Flea Market that takes place each year in October.

“She is the heart, soul, and memory of the organization,” said Burke of Sue’s contributions. “[The Robbins’] dedication has been above and beyond what anybody else has ever done for the schools and children in the community.”

“I’m proud and appreciative beyond words that there will be an annual Bromfield award in my family’s name,” said Robbins. “That, and my son and daughter-in-law being there to share the day, was a wonderful surprise. My friends on the HST board who planned the event somehow kept it totally secret.”

35 years of trust

The reception was an ideal opportunity to honor the Robbins family, but it was also held to commemorate the trust’s 35th year in service to the Harvard Public Schools. While the mission is to provide educational enrichment and supplemental support when the schools’ budgets fall short, the HST is proud of its ability to think outside of the box and offer more than scholarships and grants for things like field trips and guest speakers.

“What I’m proudest of was the COVID testing,” said Burke, when asked what she believed was the crowning achievement of the Trust. “We agreed to stretch beyond our typical mission to allow the funding for on-site testing. It was extremely challenging because there wasn’t a nonprofit setup to do it. We also helped fund the on-site daycare for educators during COVID who wanted their kids to be nearby but didn’t have schools open for their kids to attend. We really rose to be a champion.”

“It’s a privilege, really, to be part of something that brings the community together and makes such a lasting difference,” said Symula, who will be stepping down as co-president after nearly 15 years but will remain on the HST board. “The board is full of doers—you want to spend your time with people who want to make a difference.”

The Harvard Schools Trust is entirely volunteer run and membership-based. Burke intends to focus on increasing community awareness and outreach and rebuilding its enrollment, which has decreased since the pandemic.

Harvard Schools Trust board members and friends gather at Fruitlands Museum, Nov. 17, to celebrate their 35th anniversary.

“We are trying to focus our efforts on making sure people know about all of the things that we fund and where their donations go,” said Burke. “Hopefully we can encourage more people to join.” In the past year alone, the Harvard Schools Trust was able to help fund a range of enrichment activities: field trips to Boston for students to attend musicals and museums; the freshman Washington, D.C. trip; the grade 5 Nature’s Classroom initiative, in which students spend five days and four nights in Connecticut learning about the New England environment; visits from authors and athletes; a self-care and literacy task force for educators; and music programming for the preschool.

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