Debbie Clement ’95 M.B.A. is not an attention-seeker, but she will put up with a little to get a message out: “I want people to know that you don’t have to have millions of dollars to start a scholarship – that reaching out with a modest or even a small amount of money can make a real difference in someone’s life.”
Clement has established the Agnes K. Marx Memorial Scholarship in honor and memory of her aunt and godmother. In the 1920s, Agnes Marx was refused admission to law school because she was a woman. Also, although she and her husband were Catholic, they were “investigated” by clubs and organizations that they wanted to join because people thought that their last name was Jewish. Clement has great admiration for Marx and the fact that she worked through such obstacles and went on to become a business professor at the University of Minnesota.
“Agnes was always so interested in my own academic career, celebrating my successes, and encouraging me to do better when the effort wasn’t enough,” wrote Clement in a background “legacy statement” that donors write when establishing scholarships. “She and my uncle were generous people, always contributing to various causes with time as well as money, and supporting people they knew who were in need. … By virtue of their determination, I learned that nothing should stand in the way of helping others.”
Emulating the generosity of her aunt and uncle, Clement will contribute $1,500 a year to the Marx Scholarship, which will be matched by her employer, 3M. She wants other alumni to know that it is easy to establish a scholarship, emphasizing that even smaller amounts – especially when combined with employer matches – are more important than many people may think.