The Williamsonian Spring 2025

Spring 2025 Vol. 88, No. 2

The Williamsonian Faith Integrity Diligence Excellence Service

A PUBLICATION FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES

Howley Dormitory Dedicated During Homecoming

Crow Delivers Founder’ s Day Address

Trustee Timothy Crow delivers the keynote adress honoring Isaiah Williamson at Founder’ s Day.

Founder’ s Day, a day to honor the legacy of Isaiah V. Williamson and celebrate what would have been his 222nd birthday, featured a keynote address by trustee Timothy Crow, the bestowing of the Board of Trustees’ Isaiah V. Williamson Award and the C. W. Schrenk 4W9 Young Alumnus Award, and the Sons of the American Revolution’ s William J. Yearsley 4W1 Award.

Crow, speaking in the Clara Schrenk Memorial Chapel on Feb. 6th, said“ Now is the best time to be employed in the trades that I have ever seen in my life. We have reached the tipping point in the importance and the value of the trades.”

He went on to explain that the recent devastating fires in California did massive destruction and displaced thousands of people from their homes and then Hurricane Helene took a similar toll in North Carolina where entire towns were literally washed away.

“ The recovery from these tragedies will take years and will only be possible by employing talented and dedicated people in the trades who have the skills necessary to repair and rebuild homes, restore power, redo landscapes, support infrastructure needs, and provide all the other tasks to bring areas of extreme Continued on page 8

Cutting the ribbon officially opening Howley Dormitory on Oct. 19, are( from left to right): the Rev. Dr. Mark Specht 7W7, chaplain; Beth and Paul Krieger, of The Howley Foundation’ s board; President Michael Rounds; Lorie and Nick Howley, of The Howley Foundation’ s board; William Bonenberger 7W9, Williamson’ s board chairman; Susan Howley; Andy Howley, of The Howley Foundation’ s board; and Tom Howley.

“ Lorie and I and our board couldn’ t be happier,” said Nick Howley during his Howley Dormitory Dedication Ceremony remarks on Oct. 19, Homecoming Day.

Howley said,“ You couldn’ t find a better fit for The Howley Foundation. We’ re focused on providing high quality educational opportunities with character formation.” Howley and his wife Lorie, founded The Howley Foundation which generously donated the lead gift of $ 7 million for the construction project.

“ Lorie and I and our board like to put our money where you get results and can see the outcome. That’ s what is happening here. Now, 72 more boys have a wonderful opportunity. Williamson is a great place and you couldn’ t find a better fit for our foundation.”

“ You have over 200 companies pay money to attend your Career Fairs to interview students for employment. I think they do that because all the students here are special. You are educated. You are skilled. You’ re reliable, honest, and you work hard and show up on time. What else could an employer want? That’ s hard to find.” He also said that most Williamson graduates find employment in their field.

He added that enrollment to Williamson is in demand and there are more applicants than beds for all who would like to attend.“ This is what made Williamson so attractive to us.”

In his remarks, President Michael Rounds said,“ We are not just adding a new building; we are changing the lives of the young men who reside here and who will reside here in the future. Thanks to our funders, this new dormitory has allowed us to add housing for an additional 72 young men. These young men will have the trajectory of their lives changed forever in a positive way. They will go out into the world as Williamson Men with our core values guiding them in all they do. They will make good husbands and fathers. They will be assets to their communities and they will make outstanding employees with a good work ethic and trade skills.”

“ The construction of a new building is a major event at any college, but this is especially true at Williamson where every student is provided a full scholarship with room and board. Here, funding is a challenge and passing on that expense to our students by raising tuition, like most other colleges do, is definitely not an option.

“ Building a new dormitory shows our commitment to providing this amazing opportunity to even more students and that means our supporters are truly making an investment in growing Williamson. Why do we want to grow? Last year, we had over 650 applicants, but only room to accept 124 of them.“ On the other end of the spectrum, we had 239 companies attend our two Career Fairs last year. All of these companies were competing to hire one of our 84 seniors. Because of this, we feel a responsibility to stretch as much as we can to expand the enrollment here.

With the addition of this new dormitory, we were able to expand enrollment by nearly 25 %. And, as a result, our total enrollment this year, at 322, is the highest it has been in our 136-year history. So, we offer a sincere thank you to all who supported this project.”

Rounds closed his remarks thanking Nick, Lorie, their daughter Meg Howley, and The Howley Foundation.“ The Howley Foundation has also supported our marketing and admissions outreach Continued on page 7

Wesleys Honored with Prestigious Award

Joseph L. and Marion M. Wesley, founders of The Joseph and Marion Wesley Family Foundation, received Williamson’ s Board of Trustees’ prestigious Isaiah Vansant Williamson Award during the Founder’ s Day celebration on Feb. 6 in the Clara Schrenk Memorial Chapel.

The award honors those who exemplify in their life and work the ideals of the founder of Williamson College of the Trades, whether they are an alumnus or not.

In his introduction of the Wesleys, William Bonenberger 7W9, board chairman, said“ There are not many people who love Williamson more or who have helped Williamson more than Joe and Marion Wesley. The couple love Williamson’ s mission so much that they have given generously to the college for several years.

“ The most notable gift they have given to Williamson is for the construction of the Joseph L. and Marion M. Wesley Student Center. But, they’ ve given us far more than money. They’ ve given us encouragement and friendship, and they inspired us. They helped the trustees believe in several of Joe’ s personal core values-‘ The harder you work, the luckier you’ ll be’ and, my favorite,‘ Persistence overcomes resistance.’”

Continued on page 6

Marion and Joseph Wesley with the Isaiah V. Williamson Award they received at Founder’ s Day.