Retired public school teachers Ray and Suzanne Adams enjoyed their lengthy careers in math education. Ray taught at West Perry High School for 36 years, and Suzanne taught at the middle-school level in York, Upper Dauphin, and West Perry school districts for 32 years. Now that they are retired, they wanted others to benefit from their success. Ray said, “We’ve been very fortunate financially and decided that, with no children, we would seek out worthy charities to give our money to.”
As educators, it was natural for them to invest in students and their education. In 2014, they established the Raymond and Suzanne Adams Undergraduate Student/Faculty Research Endowment for Education. Now that the endowment has matured, it will be awarded for the first time in the Fall of 2018 to support student/faculty research in education.
The couple chose to support Shippensburg students because Ray received his bachelor’s degree from Ship in 1957 and his master’s in 1968. “Growing up, we were very poor, and I went to college with only the bare necessities covered. My hope is that with this endowment, students can enrich their education beyond the necessities and have opportunities to travel and conduct research.”
Ray describes teaching as “the best job you could have. I enjoyed working with the students. Once they graduated, they became my friends. Now we go golfing and hunting together.”
Thanks to the Adams’ generosity, students at Shippensburg have an easier road to achieving their dream careers in education.