Building on Lucy’s Legacy

Foundation honors Wheelock College founder and provides scholarships to support current and future educators

When Kyla McSweeney was a student at the former Wheelock College, the community of students, faculty, and staff she found there were “like family—we all were passionate about improving the lives of children and families. It’s hard to explain how supported we felt by each other.”

McSweeney (’94,’97) is president of Lucy’s Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit that supports BU Wheelock scholarships, grants, and programming. The foundation was born from the former Wheelock College Alumni Association Endowment Fund, which was created, McSweeney says, to “support alumni of Wheelock College should the college no longer exist.”

Last year, the foundation provided more than $100,000 to support scholarships for students who attended historic Wheelock College and are enrolled at BU Wheelock, as well as alumni programming. Soon, McSweeney and her fellow board members—Rachael Thames Basdekis (’07,’08), Shannon Joseph Fairley-Pittman (’08), Heidi Butterworth Fanion (’94), Kathryn Jones (’96), Bonnie Page (’76,’92), and Carol Sullivan-Hanley (’78)—plan to start a grant program to support BU Wheelock alumni projects that improve the lives of children and families.

“The experiences I have received as both a student and alum of Wheelock have guided my professional and personal life in ways I never anticipated when I left for college,” she says. “I feel that being able to carry on that tradition is very important.”