Harrison Residents Honored at Purchase College's Gala

In 1986, Donald and Jane Cecil "adopted" a class of sixth graders attending school in Mount Vernon.

The Cecils promised the students that if they graduated from high school, they would pay for them to attend college. For the 30 kids who stayed in school, the Cecils did indeed pay for them to go to college and thus founded the I Have a Dream Program that ran until 1997.

"Out of 52 youngsters, 44 had a single adult at home, and we got 30 of them off to college," Mr. Cecil said.

"The thought of giving back has always been in both our minds because we've been very fortunate, both in the economic sense and family sense," said Mr. Cecil, who is a 40-year veteran of the financial services industry.

For their longtime philanthropic efforts both in the Westchester and Purchase College communities, the Cecils will be amongst the recipients of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Award at Purchase College's School of the Arts Gala this Monday evening at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in Manhattan.

The Cecils, who are longtime Harrison residents, are passionate about education and are tireless in their dedication to helping kids achieve in academics and in life, even if the odds are stacked against them.

Currently the Jandon Foundation provides 15 scholarships each year to Westchester's gifted high schoolers living in households that subsist below the poverty line. The students receive $10,000 over the course of their undergraduate career. The Jandon Foundation, started in 1999, also gives scholarships to Purchase College students enrolled in theatre and dance programs.

"That's the future of America, education," said Mrs. Cecil. "We just want to help people get educated."

"One of the benefits of what we do and one of the benefits of education is giving so many youngsters who come from homes with a lot of baggage a sense of self-confidence," said Mr. Cecil.

Through their contributions to the Writing Through the Arts program at the Neuberger Museum, local high schoolers are able to move outside of the english classroom through an innovative collaboration between the written word and visual arts. Students visit the museum multiple times a year and write about their experiences under the guidance of their teacher.

Mr. and Mrs. Cecil, who attended Yale University and Smith College, respectively, are familiar faces on the Purchase College campus. Greg Taylor, interim dean of the conservatories of dance and theatre arts and film, said that their philanthropy has allowed many gifted students to pursue their dreams of careers in theatre and dance.

"Through their contribution to our Adopt-a-Dancer program, which gives many of our top dancers the opportunity to train with us in the face of difficult financial circumstances and their funding of our senior acting company's mainstage theatre productions, Don and Jane's sheer commitment to our students is incredible," Taylor said. "We are so grateful for all they do to allow these students to express their passion and dedication and to pursue their dreams."

Purchase College President Tom Schwartz, who Mr. Cecil credits with greatly improving the quality of education at Purchase during his tenure, said that the Cecils' contributions have been a long-time marker of their committment to supporting education and the arts.

"We are very happy to honor Don and Jane who have been lifelong supporters of scholarships and the arts. They are among Westchester's finest. Their commitment to Purchase and the arts is strong, long and generous," Schwartz said.

Mr. Cecil is currently the Chairman of the Westchester County Board of Transportation and is a board member of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He is also past chairman and present member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art. Mr. Cecil serves as Vice Chairman and Trustee of the Purchase College Foundation and also serves on the board at the Center of Education Innovation.

Mrs. Cecil works with many non-profit organizations as well. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Student Advocacy, whose mission is "to ensure a meaningful school experience for each student struggling to overcome the odds." Mrs. Cecil also serves on the Advisory Board of Today's Students, Tomorrow's Teachers.