Ingram Scholarship Application

Nicholas Baker
March 5th, 2000
New Rochelle
New York

1. E. Bronson Ingram was known for his strong leadership in both the business
world and through his philanthropic efforts. Describe which leadership
characteristics you believe to be essential for creating greater opportunities at the
intersection of entrepreneurship and high impact philanthropy.

In order to be in a position to exercise philanthropic efforts, it is common for one

to have acquired some measure of personal wealth. E. Bronson Ingram, while he was
born into a wealthy background, exceeded in amassing further personal fortune via his
drive, ambition, intelligence, excellent business sense, and work ethic; essentially, his
success beyond his initial enormous financial birthright hinged on his entrepreneurship in
branching out from his fathers initial business and creating new opportunities for
himself.
The crux of the intersection of entrepreneurship and high-impact philanthropy lies
in, I think, exactly the characteristics that make an outstanding entrepreneur. That comes
first when considering the aforementioned intersection. Without extraordinary
entrepreneurial qualities, opportunities for giving significant sums of money to worthy
causes is, arguably, decimated. Motivation would seem to be the crucial starting point for
all of it. Without that initial vision, the spark of desire to make something of ones self
or maintain ones current successsuch that one is able to comfortably part with any
large financial outlay, how is forward progress really possible to any great extent?
Motivation leads to ambition, which leads to the necessary work ethic, which can
lead to incredible success when combined with other key attributes. Leadership and
decisiveness help to propel the entrepreneur forward, and the ability to maintain
flexibility should the decision-making thought process be flawed. The Tao Te Ching tells
us that A tree that is unbending is easily broken. A true leader, a successful
businessperson, considers his/her options at nearly every turn to exercise appropriate
wisdom. Other helpful, even crucial, attributes that contribute to a successful business
person include patience, to avoid making hasty and poor decisions; empathy, to
understand the contributing work force and make the most of its functionality; and
curiosity, to maintain interest in all aspects of the business and have the will to continue
to learn and progress.
When an individual has a semblance of these skills, he/she is ever more likely to
obtain the wealth necessary to give to an enormous extent. The intersection between good
business acumen and significant giving lies, ultimately, in the will of the individual, and,
frankly, at least in some part, in his/her basic common sense. If one has the motivation,
one can begin to build or maintain; with drive, one can continue; with discernment, one
can amass; once one has amassed, one can give back, and give back generously.
 2. Explore what you think it means for individuals and businesses to, "serve the
common good". How does this intersect with your personal career aspirations?

Many economists, politicians, and philosophers, from Machiavelli to Locke to John

Stuart Mill, have grappled with the idea of the common good, a concept generally defined
as something that benefits all or most members of society. Individuals and businesses
serve the common good by doing just that--providing things that benefit the majority. It
can be argued, however, that not all common goods are supplied by individuals and
businesses. For example, public education could be considered a common good that is
funded primarily by the government. An individual could have $10 to spend on food for
him or herself, and may decide to spend that on a group of hungry children. A cashier
who smiles at every customer and asks them how they are serves the common good, even
though he/she isnt providing anything physically tangible. As humans we often take for
granted little things like these. Understanding the potential for significant, widespread,
positive results in a seemingly insignificant act, To see the World in a Grain of Sand /
And Heaven in a Wild Flower, as the poet William Blake wrote, is something we would
all do well to cultivate.
Ive wanted to become involved in medicine since I was young. Going through a
revolving door of doctors during my adolescence due to chronic styes has cemented my
love of medicine. Doctors have a way of serving the common good on a large scale and a
small scale. To start small, they take the time to get to know patients. Of course, they
follow a schedule and see a patient every 15-30 minutes on average, but those few
minutes with a good doctor can make the patient feel valued, important, and significant.
Moving on to a larger scale, doctors have the ability to heal the sick; one might argue that
healing the individual heals communities and, ultimately, society. Treatment goes beyond
the symptoms and the reason for the visit. A good doctor has the power to have a positive
impact on many lives by treating just one.
Many doctors work in hospitals, and hospitals are ultimately businesses. The staff
composed of many individuals work together to serve the common good. Non-profit
hospitals will see all patients that walk through their doors, regardless of their social
status, race, or gender. The only thing that matters is health. Medicine serves the common
good of the people and perfectly intersects with my own career aspirations.
 3. Describe a civic/community service project in which you have been involved that
you believe can be scaled to greater benefit. In so doing, focus primarily on how
that scaling could be achieved.

One of the most important community service projects I worked on in high school is
School of STEM. This organization was founded with the intent of educating local
middle school students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
topics. This organization was formed at the end of my junior year by an acquaintance of
mine. The founder of School of STEM asked me to help get her project off the ground
with a team of two other students. We worked on organizing the program over the
summer and have been running it since the school year began. We hoped to go to the
middle school located in the downtown of our home city of New Rochelle. Having
attended that middle school, I was aware that the opportunities to study STEM-related
fields were somewhat lacking, especially compared to the middle school in the north end
of the town, where students were offered several supplemental STEM programs. School
of STEM goes to the middle school on the south end and conducts lab activities with
students in various subjects. Some lab activities include model cars and extracting DNA
from strawberries. Essentially, School of STEM was designed to bridge the gap between
the northern and southern middle schools and inspire more students entering the high
school to be interested in pursuing STEM subjects.
Expanding School of STEM would entail moving into other middle schools in
neighboring districts, if not beyond. The major issue that would have to be addressed in
bringing School of STEM to a larger scale would be funding. Most of the money raised
for the organization was done through local fundraising, whether it was selling baked
goods at school events or approaching local businesses. It is possible that as the team
behind School of STEM expands, the local fundraising efforts could be expanded. Every
school district hosts school functions. However, fundraising likely wouldnt be enough to
cover the costs of ordering the materials for all the projects. Fortunately, there are
alternatives and supplemental ways to raise more money. There are websites devoted to
crowd funding, such as GoFundMe, that could raise significant amounts of money if the
campaign receives enough publicity. Of course to do this, there would have to be
extensive social media advertising. Something School of STEM would never do is charge
students for the activities. This would discourage many from participating, defeating the
entire point of the program. In all, building a larger network and increasing funding
through methods such as online community funding would be the driving force behind
bringing School of STEM to a larger scale.