In gratitude for the transforming experiences of travel in their own lives, Linda LeSourd Lader ’67 and Ambassador Philip Lader have established an endowed fund to support experiential learning through travel for students, under the auspices of Infinite Horizon: The Campaign for Emma Willard School. “Exposure to different cultures changes us,” Linda notes. “It expands our horizons and our understanding of ourselves.”

A joyful life-long learner, Linda has a deep appreciation for the life-changing impact of travel for a young person, inspiring her to establish this fund at her alma mater. “As my husband and I watched our daughters grow into discerning and thoughtful world citizens through traveling and living in other countries, we wished every American young person could have such opportunities. Phil says that his time as a Rotary Scholar at Oxford University opened his eyes and heart to the world and profoundly shaped his own life. Emma Willard students deserve similar opportunities.” 

Among the many experiences that define her life in public service, Linda co-founded the non-partisan Renaissance Weekends that seek to build bridges among innovative leaders of varying generations, professions, religious beliefs, and geography. She believes that “travel and learning from those with other perspectives can help us discover our own abilities and goals; it challenges us to dream bigger dreams, and it broadens our ideas about what we can accomplish through our own lives.”