Community, Development and Alumni Chris Wild(ON 1991)Bursary At the end of 2017, members of the Board of the Chris Wild Indigenous Bursary Fund made a personal commitment to turbo charge fundraising for the bursary. They were keen to see if it would be possible to have a bursary- supported Indigenous boy enter Year 7 every year from 2020. With their personal financial commitmentand the support of others, a pledged fundof $800,000 was secured and would be donated if the Newington College commut wl support the Indigenous program with $400,000 of donations.Thisscale of fundraising for a Newingtonbursary had never been attempted before, but neither had such generous matching funding been pledged in the past. The challenge was on and the clock was ticking. With only seven months to raise $400,000, we could not wait until Term 1 2018 to start so a pre-Christmas Appeal was run and the support was encouraging. Throughout the first few months of 2018, awareness of the Donor Matching Program continued to increase but funds had slowed. The end-of-financial-year fundraising push was on. And what a magnificent June it was. With the generous support of the Newington community, over $420,000 was raised andthe full $800,000 Artwork by current Chris Wild Indigenous Bursary recipient Gage Phillips. pledge was honoured. These funds now see us halfway to our $5 million goal, which will make this bursary self-sufficient and guarantee the opportunity of a Newington education to an Indigenous boy every year, forever. With your ongoing goodwill and support along with that of current and new Ambassadors, we now have the opportunity to award a Wild Bursary every year from 2020. This funding allows Indigenous students to learn and achieve to their full potential in areas that were not available to them previously. The artwork Vines of Life by the inaugural Wild Bursary recipient Gage Phillips (11/JN) gives a glimpse of the potential this bursary can unlock. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has generously supported this program. We look forward to your continued support to make the opportunity of a Newington education a reality for generations of Indigenous boys. Dr David Mulford with Mr Rob Wild (ON 1965), father of Mr Chris Wild (ON 1991). GRATITUDE | NEWS SPRING 2018 | 59