Representatives of the Gates Cambridge Trust and Gates Scholars’ Alumni Association attended the major US national scholarships conference in Seattle, WA last week.
The National Association of Fellowship Advisors (NAFA) – now in its tenth year – holds biennial four-day conferences in the USA to discuss a range of matters relating to advising scholarship applicants at American universities. The conference was attended by Gordon Johnson (Provost), James Smith (Executive Officer), Andrew Robertson (Trustee and Co-Chair of the GSAA) and Hilary Levey (Co-Chair of the GSAA), all of whom engaged with the 260 advisors present.
There were several highlights of the conference.
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Left: outgoing NAFA President Paula Warwick presents Gordon Johnson with a gift in recognition of his services to NAFA. Right: Bill Gates Sr giving his keynote speech at the Saturday dinner.
Gordon Johnson, who has been involved in NAFA since it started in 2000, was given a lunch in his honour. Several of the NAFA leadership recounted how Gordon’s role had been foundational in the organisation.
Another highlight was a keynote speech by Bill Gates Sr (Trustee of the Gates Cambridge Trust). Mr Gates talked about the important and essential role that scholarship advisors play in the development of the lives and careers of their students. He gave several examples of the transformative power of scholarships, including the stories of two current Gates Cambridge Scholars. The full text of Bill Gates Sr’s speech is avilable here.
The Trust is grateful to NAFA for its energy and commitment to helping so many outstanding students from universities across the USA.
