The Dunham School is pleased to announce that Laurie Randall Duchmann and her mother, Erica Carpenter, have made a leadership level gift of $350,000 that will benefit both the Pillars of Purpose Capital Campaign and capital improvements to the Science Center. The school is pleased to name the facility the Carpenter-Randall Science Center in honor of this generous gift.
The gift helps fund previous construction of the Science Center, as well as new improvements that will begin this summer and will include state-of-the art lab spaces and science equipment. The fundraising efforts for the improvements to the Science Center began earlier this year with a lead gift from Brian and Courtney Murphy who are naming the Chemistry Lab/Classroom in addition to continued support for the Pillars Campaign.
Laurie makes this gift in memory of her late father, David Carpenter, who passed away in 2016, and in honor of her children, Ally ’19 and Jackson ’22. In addition to this gift, Laurie gave $20,000 in September to fund artificial turf in the Trey and Will Clark Baseball Facility and also increased her Annual Giving Campaign gift to $2,500.
“The baseball gift I made with my father in mind as watching college baseball was a pastime that we shared together. I have many happy memories of the two of us attending LSU baseball games. My dad also loved to watch his grandson Jackson play baseball. He was so proud of him and taught Jackson a great deal about the strategy of the game,” Laurie shared.
“After I made the gift for baseball, I visited with Kinch Cato about other needs of the school. Then Larry and I attended a Head of School dinner with fellow Dunham parents and we were inspired as Steve Eagleton talked about his vision for Dunham. I met with Steve and Kinch a few days after the dinner, and shared that I was eager to support the Pillars Campaign and the new improvements the school needed to make in the Science Center.”
“Science was my favorite subject in both high school and college. I loved the variety of lab activities and hands-on experiments I was offered and wanted my children and all Dunham students to enjoy a similar learning environment. I'm honored to give back to Dunham in such a meaningful way and I feel strongly that my dad is guiding me as I make these important decisions. The superior education and enriching atmosphere have been such a blessing to my children. I am proud of the exceptional young adults they have become.”
Laurie plans to continue supporting the Pillars of Purpose Capital Campaign and other fundraising efforts at Dunham and hopes that this gift from her and her mother will inspire other families to join them in support. “This gift will help with the Pillars campaign goal and some of the upgrades in science, but there is more we can do, and I hope others will join the school in reaching those goals."
If you would like more information about the Pillars of Purpose Capital Campaign or the Science Center capital project, please contact Director of Advancement Kinch Cato at 225-315-1788 or kinch.cato@dunhamschool.org.
