{"id":3019,"date":"2019-05-22T20:41:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T20:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/?p=3019"},"modified":"2021-01-17T11:26:06","modified_gmt":"2021-01-17T11:26:06","slug":"paying-it-forward-the-smith-family-pays-morehouse-colleges-class-of-2019-student-loan-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ampsmagazine.com\/?p=3019","title":{"rendered":"Paying it Forward: The Smith Family Pays Morehouse College’s Class of 2019 Student Loan Debt."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Robert\nF. Smith, a graduate of Columbia Business School in 1994, gave the commencement\nspeech at Morehouse College, Graduating Class of 2019. He told the entire class\nof 400 students, \u201cWhere you live shouldn\u2019t\ndetermine whether you get educated. Where you go to school shouldn\u2019t determine\nwhether you get textbooks,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe opportunity you access should be\ndetermined by the fierceness of your intellect, the courage in your creativity\nand the grit that allows you to overcome expectations that weren\u2019t set high\nenough.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Student Reaction at Morehouse 2019 Commemcement Service<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Smith\nowns the company, Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in\nsoftware, data, and technology-driven companies. According to Forbes, VEP has\nbought more than 200 software companies since 2010. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Morehouse 2019 Graduating Class <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Smith\nreceived an honorary doctorate from the Morehouse College during the graduation\nceremony, where he made this announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 56-year-old billionaire is the first African American to\nsign the Giving Pledge. This campaign was founded by Bill and Melinda Gates and\nWarren Buffett to encourage wealthy individuals to dedicate the majority of\ntheir wealth to philanthropy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday wasn\u2019t the first\ntime Smith made a generous donation to a school. In 2016, he pledged $50\nmillion of his personal money through a foundation to his alma mater, Cornell\nUniversity\u2019s School Of Engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert F. Smith, a graduate of Columbia Business School in 1994, gave the commencement speech at Morehouse College, Graduating Class of 2019. He told the entire class of 400 students, \u201cWhere you live shouldn\u2019t determine whether you get educated. Where you go to school shouldn\u2019t determine whether you get textbooks,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe opportunity you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,47],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[770],"class_list":{"0":"post-3019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"category-get-inspired"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t