Team Involvement Yields Success

Jim and Nancy Bolton had a cardinal rule when their three children—Patrick ’18, Evan ’19, and Laine ’21—were young: to play on a team. “Jim and I both feel it’s very important for children to be involved on a team,” said Nancy. “We don’t care if it was the chess team or the football team, as long as they were involved in something. They learn about competition, discipline, and winning and losing, and those are all things that carry over into everyday life.” All three Bolton children have been involved in USM athletics, as has Nancy, who served as president of the Wildcat Booster Club, among many other volunteer roles at the school.

Education has always been important to Jim and Nancy. “Jim’s parents and mine were educators. We benefitted from their focus on the importance of education, which is partly why we chose USM for our kids. They have taken full advantage of the many opportunities at USM, from learning how to write a resume and participating in the Internship and Shadowing Program to international trips.”

For Jim and Nancy, supporting the Our Common Bond campaign meant supporting both the USM Fund and the endowment for financial assistance. “We feel that our children really benefitted from their USM education, and education is very important to both of us. We knew that we wanted to support financial assistance for other students, that’s where we wanted to focus our giving.”

Nancy’s extensive volunteer work through the Booster Club enabled her to get a behind-the-scenes look at school, but she didn’t have to look far to see the value of a USM education. “We’ve seen in our kids the ability to advocate for themselves, to get their work done independently, and to structure their studying effectively. They’ve gained so much from their USM education.”