Antilles has received a gift of $300,000 from Andrew and Monica Midler, parents of three Antilles students, in support of our Open Doors initiative. Income from the Midler’s gift will provide full tuition for a qualified student from Middle School through graduation.

With this gift the Midlers join with the family of Henry and Charlotte Kimelman, Peter and Patricia Gruber and the Peter Gruber Foundation, Cassan Pancham and First Bank, and the J. Epstein VI Foundation as true "openers of doors" providing access to an Antilles education for students whose family financial circumstances would otherwise make this an impossible dream.

While Open Doors is a new initiative, it has its roots in the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn when other island schools were closed and headmaster Mark Marin opened the school’s doors to all qualified students regardless of ability to pay. From that gesture, which changed the school’s demographics overnight, grew a sustained commitment to providing access to all who can benefit from an Antilles education.

Antilles spends over 17% of its annual operating budget on providing financial assistance to deserving students. This is more than twice the national average of comparable independent schools. The school does this despite having very little endowment, because of its commitment to being a community school.

This lack of endowment led Peter and Patricia Gruber to establish and endow the Gruber Scholarships, which, in addition to providing support to several Upper School students each year, is growing endowment.

Over a year ago, the family of Henry and Charlotte Kimelman stepped forward with a gift of $500,000 to support students in the Lower School. The first Kimelman scholarship was awarded to a kindergarten student in the 2007-2008 school year. Each year thereafter, another scholarship will be awarded to a child in the kindergarten until there are six children receiving Kimelman scholarships, one in each grade from kindergarten through fifth. At that point an older student will “age out” of the program each year and a new kindergartener will join, thus keeping the number of scholarships at six.

Subsequently First Bank and the J. Epstein VI Foundation joined the program, each supporting an incoming Middle School student who had demonstrated proven ability and potential. This support will continue through graduation. First Bank’s Cassan Pancham was inspired to become involved in this effort by his own experience: a donor who recognized his achievements in primary school helped him to go to the best high school in Guyana. Cassan wanted to do the same for promising young people here.

All of these scholarships are awarded to students whose financial need exceeds 80% of tuition, which in turn, allows the school to provide more financial aid out of operating funds to students with partial need.

Open Doors also supports students in another very important way, helping to open the doors to college by providing access to college trips, test prep courses and summer off-island enrichment opportunities. Unlike books and class field trips, these are often considered discretionary expenses. In reality, for many students, these “extras” are essential, if they are to play on a level field with their financially blessed peers: these are the opportunities that raise a student’s sights, and add luster to a resume.

This year, a generous grant from the Lana Vento Charitable Trust made it possible for us to open these opportunities to a number of Antilles students, and, through partnerships with the Junior Angels program of the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and with Gifft Hill School on St. John, to deserving students in the wider community.

Hurricane Marilyn blew down many doors, but for generations of future Antilles students, thanks to the inspiration of Mark Marin and vision of a growing list of generous donors, an ill wind did blow good. In the words of benefactor Donald Kimelman, Antilles has “very artfully found a way to bundle these like minded scholarship funds into a larger Open Doors initiative. So while the individual gifts may be finite, Open Doors is indeed wide open.”