“Dream Big,” says Ron Speaker about the Michael E. McGoldrick Scholarship he is launching this year. The award will carry out the vision of his friend and mentor who wanted his legacy to be the start of someone’s bigger story.
Michael McGoldrick was a multifaceted person.
While fundraising and teaching at his high school alma mater, Lakeside School in Seattle, McGoldrick met two students interested in computer science. They wanted the school to invest in a computer so they could learn how to use it. At that time, computers were teletype machines that could take up a whole closet. The school did not yet have one. The boys said they could use it to organize the school’s mailing lists. Michael found a way to get Lakeside a computer and ultimately allowed these students to use it at night. Michael let the two sneak in through a window since students were not allowed in the admin area after hours. They took turns sleeping on a cot. McGoldrick later invested in a company the two boys started. The two students were Paul Allen and Bill Gates.
“His story is the Forrest Gump of the finance world. He was caught in the Six-Day War. He was the first professor on the U.S.S. Universe. He worked on the New York Stock Exchange and Chicago Board Of Trade. He picked up hippies and flipped hot stocks on his way,” Speaker says.
Michael had a passion for all things learning. Before he died in 2021, a few years back, he entrusted Ron with making sure his money was allocated in a way that would best fit his aspirations and life. This year’s seniors – the Class of 2025 – will be the first cohorts in this pilot program.
“The MEM scholarship isn’t necessarily for the most academically gifted students, but for students with interesting stories to tell,” Speaker said, describing how the scholarship’s grantors are going to be looking for those seeking new experiences, students with big dreams that don’t necessarily have the means to act on them.
“The idea is to dream big, you know?” Speaker says. “Imagine you’re dreaming of attending King’s College at Cambridge, and how excited the foundation would be to say, ‘Wow, look at that dream they have. We helped them succeed.’”
The MEM scholarship is a $100,000 scholarship that will cover all four years of three recipients’ college careers. This includes tuition, books and supplies, a new computer, and room and board. Students applying must be residents of the states of Colorado or Washington throughout their entire junior and senior years and have a 3.5 or above as well as a 1200+ on the SAT and/or a 28+ on the ACT.
