| Friends of Fettes College Inc. | ||
 David
Ogilvy OF (1911-1999)
Industria Events Opportunities Support for Fettes Scottish-American links Contacts |
The Fettes network in the USA has
meshed quickly. We know of 300 OF’s in the USA and the Caribbean, and hearsay suggests that
many more exist.
An equivalent number are resident in Canada.
Our contact details have improved immeasurably since
the early days, and much credit is due here to the on-line OF
Message Pad. We also have
a growing number of friends – individuals and families who lack
any formal link to the school and yet who maintain an interest in
Fettes. They come from many sources – the Scottish-American
community, clan Fettes, and alumni of other Scottish independent
schools and the friends of our own pupils and alumni.
The network remains essentially dendritic, with a growing
volume of communication emanating from Fettes and distributed from
New York from the office of our trustee, Christopher Brown. The
previous Headmaster, Malcolm Thyne, and the current Headmaster,
Michael Spens, have visited the Northeast USA and my visit in the
spring has become routine. We had, of course, the highly successful
visit of the Pipe Band in July 2000 to Boston and New York and the
excellent School Choir Tour in summer 2003.
President Bush and OF Prime Minister Blair in Texas 2002
The dispersed distribution of Old Fettesians in the USA make it difficult to connect physically with fellow alumni. There have been gatherings in New York, Washington, Boston and San Francisco in recent years. A few US OF’s make it to Commemoration in October – now an event that attracts several hundred alumni to Fettes – and any business visitor to London or any major world city should check out the forthcoming OFA events on the Old Fettesian Website
Virtual connectivity is at its most advanced within the OF
community in the USA. E-mail is a vital tool for keeping in touch
quickly and cheaply, and our address list is the most comprehensive
within the Old Fettesian Association. An encouraging development has been the interest amongst young Old Fettesians in study and work opportunities in the USA. We have a number of OF’s at US universities, including several at UNC.
Attracting US-based students to Fettes will always be difficult
but, judging from the number of faces around the turkey on
Thanksgiving at Comely Bank, we have had some success here. Our
students tend to come from the OF community and from the families of
expatriate Scottish business men and women. Our higher profile amongst
the Scottish-American community will aid recruitment in the future but
there is currently a
curious reluctance to send young people back to the motherland for a
top education. Nonetheless we have 10-15 US-based students at Fettes at any
one time and we offer a full SAT program, with on-site testing. Fund-raising is now acknowledged to be essential to the well-being of the school, and FFC Inc. continues to play an important role here. The setting up of Friends of Fettes was a catalyst to the establishment of the larger Fettes Foundation.
Future prospects for Fettes in the USA are bright. FFC
Inc. led a rather hand-to-mouth existence in its first three
years, but there are many encouraging signs of maturity. The
establishment of the Foundation office provides professional backing
in Edinburgh. The growing body of Trustees brings huge experience to
the task of leading FFC Inc. forward. Most of all, the enthusiasm and
interest of OF’s in the USA in the development of Fettes continues
to grow. Floreas Fettesia! Dr. Adrian M. Hall Co-ordinator of American Relations Fettes
College |
FFC Inc. was set up in 1998 on the inspiration of Jacek
Makowski. The organisation has three main aims: to
provide a support network for Old Fettesians, to aid the recruitment
of pupils, and to raise funds for Fettes. In operating a dedicated
alumnus organisation in the United States, we are unique among the
Scottish independent schools and one of a very small group in
Britain as a whole.