More than financial aid: when a scholarship means “you belong”

It all started with an envelope in the mailbox. Years before she became an acclaimed theatre director, arts leader, and Denison trustee, Susan Booth ʼ85 was a prospective student wondering how her family would make college work.

Then the letter arrived.

Inside was news that she had received a Denison scholarship. The award was relatively modest, but for Booth — the youngest of four children born within a span of five years — it made a difference.

“It meant so much to me that I could go say to my parents, ‘Hey, it just got a little easier,’” she said. The financial support helped. But what Booth remembers most is something less tangible: the feeling that Denison truly saw her and wanted her to be part of it.

Now, Booth is helping create that same feeling for future students through the Susan V. Booth ’85 Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fund makes the Denison experience more accessible by providing need-based financial aid to students majoring or participating in the arts. The decision to establish the scholarship was fueled by Booth’s witnessing of “the unbelievable vibrancy of the arts community” during her visits to The Hill.

As a trustee, Booth regularly spends time with students and experiences their creative spirit firsthand. “You just have to walk from one door of the Eisner Center to another and you’re going to hear bluegrass music and you’re going to see a dance recital being prepared for and you’re going to see students working on a scene for an acting class. It’s so alive,” she said.

Booth found herself thinking about the students who might never get the chance to experience it. “The notion that somebody would want to be there and couldn’t make it work, and that I might be able to make some small impact toward making it work, was just something I had to do,” she said.

Her perspective has also been shaped by her experience as a parent (her daughter just graduated from a college overseas). As Booth imagined future scholarship recipients opening their own award letters, she thought not only about the students, but the families behind them.

“It’s such an incredible statement of investment,” Booth said. “As a parent, you want the school to know how great your kid is.”

A scholarship, she believes, sends exactly that message. “I think about what it means when the school in some fashion says, ‘Your kid’s important. Your kid’s deserving of being here.’” For families navigating the college search process, that affirmation can be profound. It helps reinforce that they have found a place where their student will be supported.

“You’re sending off your best invention. You are entrusting the best thing you ever did,” Booth said. “And every step like this tells you that you made the right choice.”

Booth’s philanthropy mirrors what she values most about today’s Denison students. Since returning to campus as an alum, she has been struck not only by their talent but by their compassion and willingness to engage deeply with the world around them.

“Denison students are fiercely curious young people,” she said. “These are people who look you in the eyeballs and ask you really intelligent questions.” Those interactions strengthened her desire to invest in upcoming generations of students and help ensure that finances do not stand in the way of opportunity.

“I want it to allow somebody to walk in on day one with a little less imposter syndrome, knowing somebody really wants you to be here,” she said.

This aspiration sits at the heart of Denison’s commitment to access and affordability. Scholarships do more than help students enroll. They send a powerful message that talented students belong here, that their potential is recognized, and that the Denison community is invested in their success from the very beginning.

For Booth, that message arrived in an envelope many years ago. Through her new scholarship, she hopes future students will experience that same feeling — the certainty that they are welcomed, valued, and wanted at Denison.