The Archer School for Girls in Brentwood announced last week that a recent gift of $5 million will be used to establish an endowment for financial aid that will strengthen the independent school’s commitment to socio-economic diversity.
Currently, nearly 25 percent of the student body receives some form of financial aid.
“From the very start of the school in 1995, opening Archer’s doors to the widest possible range of students to truly represent the ‘face of Los Angeles’ was a guiding principle of our mission,” said Archer co-founder Dr. Diana Meehan.
Dr. Meehan and her husband, writer and producer Gary David Goldberg, were Archer’s first major philanthropists.
With help from the school’s founding board, Meehan and Archer Trustee Cindy Harrell Horn initially raised $4.5 million to assist talented girls from throughout Los Angeles to attend Archer.
The $5 million, from an anonymous donor, will establish the Cindy Harrell Horn Endowment Fund, honoring Horn’s dedication and guaranteeing Archer’s ability to sustain its diverse student body. Matching grants will be sought to bring the Fund to an eventual total of $10 million.
“It has been a privilege to see so many girls who received financial aid at Archer win scholarships to the nation’s leading colleges and universities, including Princeton, Howard, Yale, Scripps, Brown, USC, Stanford, and the University of Chicago,” said Horn, a well-known community and environmental activist.
The Archer School for Girls provides a rigorous college preparatory education in grades 6-12 in an environment that explores and refines the ways girls learn best. Risk-taking and leadership opportunities are central to each student’s experience.Archer will celebrate its tenth anniversary in September 2005.
