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Wesleyan College president sets, meets goals in first 100 days

Blight says folks donated as little as $5, all the way to six figures and she's was blown away by the response. She says the money is already being put to good use.

MACON, Ga. — Wesleyan College has been in Macon for 186 years, but back in October, President Meaghan Blight did something for the first time in its history and raised $2.2 million in her first 100 days on the job.

Blight says they’re already putting the money to good use and accelerating women's access to equality. 

13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha shows you how she's working to meet her goals for the school. 

"We have many students who are accessing it, so we're actively using the dollars,” Blight says. 

She said she wanted to set the tone for her presidency and try something new to elevate Wesleyan, so they created the "One Million Dollar Match" in June. 

She put the first $50,000 in the pot. 

"We started to ask community members, alumni, foundations, corporations to either match me and my family with $50,000, or give what you can.” 

Blight says folks donated as little as $5, all the way to six figures, and she says she was blown away by the response. 

Blight says the money is already being put to good use for things like renovations and, "International recruitment, it's going towards scholarships and bursaries to ensure that women– both locally and abroad– can afford this type of education. No matter your socioeconomic background, you're able to get a high quality education here.” 

She says two of the new and larger programs being funded with the money right now is the Working Warriors Program. It helps women disproportionately affected by COVID-19, those who started a degree but didn’t finish, and may want to finish it. 

There's also the CEO Institute-- Creating Equal Opportunities. It provides a personal advisory board that can help open doors to industry.  

Jessie Hurst is Wesleyan's junior class president. She says her mother is an alumna, and Hurst says she's excited for the college to continue thriving. 

"When I moved in, my mom got to show me her room down the hall. It gives me a lot of hope that I could theoretically bring my daughter to Wesleyan,” Hurst says. 

Daebreon Buie is a junior and Student Government Association President. 

"It makes me really excited for the future,” she says.     

Buie is on scholarship and she says the money helps her and future students. 

"I don't think I would be able to be at Wesleyan without it. I mean, it makes me really excited to go places and say, 'I go to Wesleyan College,'” she explains. 

Blight says they’ll continue to fundraise to replenish the money that they’re spending. 

   

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