Study Abroad Scholarship | klscommunications

Published in CU Foundation Annual Report. Annual Report brought in $51,000 in gifts (tracked via appeal code).

Study-Abroad Scholarship Gives Life to Sarah’s Memory

In winter of 1988, CU Boulder Sarah Susannah Buchanan Philipps was wrapping up the experience of a lifetime: a semester studying Shakespeare in Great Britain. She particularly enjoyed a trip to Edinburgh.

She called her mother before her flight home and said, “Mom, I love Scotland. You have to promise me you’ll travel here with me.”

Sarah boarded the fated Pan Am Flight 103. As the plane flew over Lockerbie, Scotland, a bomb exploded on board, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. The tragedy “stole her future from us,” Sarah’s mother said.

In the wake of this loss, the Philipps searched for ways to keep Sarah’s memory alive. To honor her experiences during her semester abroad, her family established the Sarah Susannah Buchanan Philipps Scholarship in 1988. They have given consistently to the fund for over two decades, and to date 40 CU Boulder English majors have studied in the UK or Ireland thanks to the Philipps’ generosity.

The students who have benefitted from this scholarship do not take lightly their experiences abroad, or the story behind the gift.

“Sarah’s family’s decision to celebrate their daughter’s adventurous spirit by providing a means for other students to study abroad was a wonderful way to validate the significance of travel in a young person’s life,” says English major and 2009 recipient Julia Echternach. “I’m still very thankful to Sarah’s family for providing the scholarship because without it, I might not have gone to study abroad and I would not have discovered a place that I love so much.”

Ashley Marudas studied at the University of Lancaster in 2009. She says, “Sarah’s story showed me that life is so short. The attack prevented her from reuniting with her family, which put things into perspective for me. I wanted to make sure my experience abroad left nothing to be desired, because who knows when I’d get another chance to go back or even to get home.”

The inscription on Sarah’s grave reads, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” the opening line of one of Shakespeare’s most tender sonnets. The final line of that same poem reads, “So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” Indeed, the study-abroad scholarship in her name gives life not only to Sarah’s memory, but to her zest for life, her passion for English Language and Literature, and her enduring impact on her friends and family.