Fundraiser honors students memory

By Nicole Woods
Collegian Editor
April 5, 2006

Accounting Association officers Kevin McGoldrick, Dennis McGowan, Nadya Popil and Jessica Runyen recently approached their moderator, Professor John Zook, with the idea of organizing a fundraiser for the Danielle Leonard Scholarship fund. Leonard was a senior accounting major who died in November as a result of an accidental drug overdose (Collegian, Dec. 7, 2005, “Accounting major remembered as anything but ordinary”).

“Danielle and her family were, and still are, very influential in the School of Business, and they constantly work to better it,” Popil said. “They are truly what La Salle stands for. Because they give so much to us, the Accounting Association thought that it was only appropriate to work to give something back in Danielle’s name.”

McGowan had accounting and business classes with Danielle and interned with her at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers over the summer.

“By having a fundraiser to contribute money to her scholarship fund, we were able to, as a student body, recognize her impact on this campus community,” McGowan said.

An anonymous donator contributed four Phillies tickets to raffle for games on April 5 and 7. The tickets are for Hall of Fame Club seats, which are extra-wide padded seats at press level that have access to climate-controlled lounges with daily food specials and private restrooms.

The officers sold chances for the games last week. The two winning packages each included two tickets and a parking pass, valued at about $100.

Zook has personal ties to the project because he had Danielle as a student in several of his classes and has known her father for over 30 years through La Salle and as a colleague at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP.

“The fundraising efforts emanated from Nadya and the officers of the Accounting Association. They had a goal of $1,000 to donate to the Danielle Leonard Scholarship fund. The students involved here deserve all the credit,” Zook said.

The Danielle Leonard Scholarship was established after her death when people were asked to donate to her high school or La Salle in lieu of giving flowers. The Leonard family is currently working with the Advancement Office to finalize the criteria for recipients. They are planning to award it annually to a student in the business school at the end of his or her freshman year based on performance level and financial need.

Donations to the fund have already reached $75,000. The first scholarship will be presented to a student selected by the accounting professors at this year’s Accounting Awards Dinner on April 27.

“We wanted to do something to keep her legacy at La Salle by having a scholarship in her name to give back to other students,” Danielle’s father, Tom Leonard ’70, said. “We wanted to make sure she wasn’t forgotten. Danielle was a recipient of scholarships from the Accounting Department in her junior and senior years, and she was a very people-oriented person, so she would have liked to give back.”

In addition to the Phillies ticket raffle, the Accounting Association will sell T-shirts for $10 to raise funds for the scholarship. Popil said that they expect the shirts to sell very well with accounting majors.

“The back of the shirt states, ‘I Survived Dr. Welsh’s Intermediate Accounting.’ Anyone who has taken the course knows that alone is an accomplishment,” she said.

Dr. Jeannie Welsh, Chair of the Accounting Department, agrees with the outlook of her class.

“Danielle had a lively sense of humor,” she said. “I think she would have appreciated the T-shirt, which was designed by her fellow sufferers in Intermediate Accounting. She aced Accounting 201 and 202, so I expect that she would have worn the T-shirt with pride.”

The Accounting Association will present its donation to the Danielle Leonard Scholarship fund at the Accounting Awards Dinner.

woodsn1@lasalle.edu