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Pay It Forward Say Scholarship Speakers


The annual Scholarship Luncheon on Thursday, April 6 in Paterakis Hall featured alumni speaker Josh Jones-Dilworth ’98 and student speaker Ethan R. ’17 who both touched on the importance of “paying it forward.” More than 150 Upper School scholarship students joined an equal number of sponsors and mentors to celebrate and recognize McDonogh’s commitment to the time-honored scholarship program.

Headmaster Charlie Britton began the program saying, “The generosity of John McDonogh is why we exist, and the generosity of the donors in this room and those who came before you is why we continue to prosper. It’s why we are able to offer life-altering opportunities to amazing students who exhibit tremendous promise. The circle is completed when those students go out into the world, armed and ‘LifeReady’ with what it takes ‘to do the greatest possible amount of good.’”

Alumni speaker Jones-Dilworth, a member of the marketing team who introduced the world to Siri, the very first voice assistant for a smartphone, spoke about the value of scholarship and the importance of starting at the bottom and working your way up. Today he is the CEO of a boutique consultancy in Austin, Texas. In his remarks he spoke about the importance of paying it forward. Recently, Jones-Dilworth and his wife established a McDonogh scholarship in his mother’s name.

Student speaker Ethan R. echoed Jones-Dilworth’s sentiments on “paying it forward” as he expressed his gratitude for his McDonogh education. He spoke about the lessons he learned throughout his McDonogh career and most recently as a leader of the robotics team. At the end of his talk, Ethan, a world-class juggler who says he’s also known on campus as “that juggling guy,” demonstrated his skills by juggling balls and swords.