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Volunteer of the Month: Mike Daniel '65

Mike Daniel '65 is modest about his years of volunteering for Woodberry.

"I've just always done what the school asked me to do," he says.

But his record of service now stretches more than forty years as a volunteer, and even longer as a regular donor to the Amici Fund. Mike got involved in the late 1970s, when the Alumni Office asked him to help rally classmates for his class's fifteenth reunion in 1980. He stayed involved after that, calling classmates each year for the Amici Fund, serving on reunion committees, and assisting admission officers when boys from the Pittsburgh area were interested in Woodberry. He said he enjoys reaching out to classmates who may have lost touch with the school and bringing them into the fold.

"Mike is a thorough and dependable volunteer in every way," says Bear Bondurant '13, assistant director of the Amici Fund. "He always does what he says, he's impecably organized, and he shows up for every conference call and WFS event."

Mike and his wife, Kaye, are also members of the Walker Society, meaning they've made a provision for Woodberry in their will or estate plan. He encourages other classmates and graduates from his era to consider doing the same. 

Through his years as a volunteer, Mike has also stayed involved with the school through his family. His sons Jay and John are members of the Woodberry classes of 1988 and 1991, respectively. His grandson, Trevor, is about to start his sixth-form year in September. These family ties have helped him stay current on what's happening at the school.

"It helps that I'm on campus more than the average alumnus," Mike says. "I help people understand what Woodberry is like now."

As Mike looks forward to his fifty-fifth reunion next April, he's proud of the many ways he and his classmates have contributed to the school. But he says they're just following advice from the former headmaster, A. Baker Duncan '45.

"Baker told us to give back to our schools," Mike says. "'Start small,' he said, 'and let your gifts build up over time.'"
Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.