Bill Frey's scholarship endowment: Making good grades cool and profitable

Larraine and Bill Frey COURTESY PHOTO Bill Frey has always placed a priority on the education of children; now some of the youngest and brightest Lee County students will benefit in perpetuity from his $500,000 scholarship gift.

Mr. Frey, the founder of Sanibel homebuilding firm Frey & Sons and a community leader, is endowing each of 15 Lee County elementary schools with enough seed money ($30,000) to fund a permanent, annual $1,000 scholarship for a math and science achiever in fourthth grade or higher. Mr. Frey is also giving the remaining 32 Lee County schools the first year's $1,000 prize money, under the umbrella of the Carson Scholars Fund, while he looks for other donors to seed those schools with an endowment of their own.

"My wife and I look at every opportunity we can to get kids out of the way of thinking that is so often the case in our society today," says Mr. Frey, who believes athletics are too often the only motivator for kids. "There's nothing 'cool' today about excelling in school," he laments. "We don't put the kind of emphasis we need to put on education. Teachers want to do it, but they don't get the support."

Mr. Frey said he believes motivating children to be scholars early in their lifetimes is critical. "Today, a child may even be persecuted by his peers," he says, "unless he's working toward one of those things that's rewarded and awarded." Mr. Frey's solution is the $1,000 Carson Scholars prize for a young student, presented at an annual awards ceremony, and backed up by a highly visible school trophy engraved with winners' names. Each prize will be invested by Charles Schwab and administered by The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools on behalf of winning recipients, accumulating returns until used to pay for the college of choice.

"We're saying your efforts are going to net you some money," says Mr. Frey. "That's a lot of bucks, especially to a poor child. But this is not need-oriented. This is ability-oriented. We want to heighten and reward scholarship efforts." Each school will nominate three students who have a 3.75 grade point average or higher in math and science, and who are also involved in their community; eventual winners will be announced prior to their March awards ceremony.

Mr. Frey's donation is the largest single gift in the Carson Scholars program since its inception in 1984. It was established by Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson and his wife Candy, to recognize and reward students in grades four through 11 who strive for academic excellence. "Dr. Carson is an incredible story," says Mr. Frey, who relates the tale of a poor, young African-American boy from Alabama whose mother realized that reading could lead to success. Dr. Carson, who became an avid reader and student, was accepted at Harvard, finished medical school there, and became a pediatric neurosurgeon: the first ever to separate brain-sharing Siamese twins. This year, Dr. Carson received the presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush, and was named Citizen of the Year in the state of Maryland.

"Dr. Carson endeavors to be the one to come and present each award," says Mr. Frey, of the man who still performs 300 neurosurgeries per year. "He's a brilliant guy, very publicly spirited. I first heard him speak in California and I was blown away by it."

Others agree. Carson Scholars' honorary national board includes Gen. Colin Powell, Buzz Aldrin, Cal Ripken Jr., George Lucas, Quincy Jones and Tony Dungy.

Mr. Frey and retired attorney John Sheppard are working together to find donors willing to endow or provide support for the remaining scholarships. "Only 52 percent of students in the high schools of America's top 50 cities graduate. Large numbers of children are failing to flourish. Mr. Frey finds inspiration in a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer: 'The test of the morality of the society is what it does for our children.'

Mr. Frey was a university professor in management and finance, doing undergraduate work in physics before earning two degrees is psychology. His wife, Lorraine, was also a teacher in the Lee County school system, and past president of a national children's ministry. Mr. Frey's three sons by late wife Doris went through public schools. Today, one is a medical researcher at Johns Hopkins, one a radiologist, and Barry Frey is president of Frey & Son Homes.

Bill Frey has held countless leadership roles in civic organizations, including Angel Flight, Sanibel's Below Market Rate Housing, two theaters, the Sanibel Chamber of Commerce Sanibel Community Church, Southwest Florida Community Foundation, and more. Gulfshore Life magazine is honoring Mr. Frey as its Philanthropist of the Year Friday, Nov. 14.

A luncheon will be held Nov. 19 to launch the local scholarship program and give prospective donors a chance to learn more. For more information, call the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools at 337-0433.