Left: Senior Portrait of Anthony "Tony" Scioly '69

Impact always begins with leadership. A leader emerges with an idea – a need, a legacy to memorialize, coupled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude – and converts it into an opportunity for meaningful contribution to benefit another. The Scioly family’s leadership gift establishing the Class of 1969 Endowment in memory of Anthony Scioly ’69 did just that, bringing a legacy of altruism and generosity full circle for the Class of 1969 alumni community. 

The Class of 1969 Scholarship Fund was established in September 2020, with a gift made in loving memory of graduate Anthony Joseph “Tony” Scioly ’69. Seattle Prep played a key role in shaping Tony into the person he was, and the Scioly family wanted others to benefit from a Seattle Prep education in similar ways. 

Tony’s interest in math was sparked by an influential Seattle Prep teacher, John Goodwin. Goodwin told Tony he was good at math and should pursue it, and this is exactly what Tony did. He went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree, Master of Science and PhD. before committing his life to educating students. Tony taught for 30 years as the head of chemistry at Sienna Heights University and spent 14 years chairing the Computing, Mathematics and Science department. In 2013, Tony gave an interview for Panther Tracks, saying of his role as an educator: “I really have a chance to have an effect on my students. I remember the impact Mr. Goodwin had on me and I try to encourage my students in the same way.” 

With current contributions to date, the Class of 1969 Endowment is 46% of the way to being fully funded. This is thanks in part to the Scioly family’s leadership gift made in 2020 and gifts from other classmates who helped kickstart this pay-it-forward endeavor.

Until it is fully funded at $50,000, interest generated from this fund will be combined with interest from similarly sized endowments. Together, these interests are pooled and re-invested in the Seattle Prep Endowment, which provides need-based tuition assistance each year. 

The first ever scholarship fund for tuition assistance was not started by graduates, parents or even friends of Seattle Prep, but students themselves. In 1968, two juniors began to turn a profit selling hamburgers in a McDonnell Hall common area, which served as an unofficial lunchroom before it would become a visitor locker room and years later the remodeled Girls Locker Room. To date, Prep has over 100 established scholarship funds.

Seattle Prep has challenged the Class of 1969 to reach full funding of their class endowment by their 55th reunion next summer so that it generates interest of its own, providing tuition assistance to an additional Prep student. Independently interest-generating endowment funds help to improve the accessibility of a Prep education to families who desire a Jesuit education for their student. A fully funded endowment will provide more students with the formative experience that inspired Tony’s family to establish the Class of 1969 Endowment.