Bud Noland ’62 has worked for decades to expand and enhance the programs and facilities of Woodberry Forest School.
The Noland Summer Fellowship Program, established in 1997, supports Woodberry boys as they pursue independent research projects that encourage growth in areas of personal interest.
Bud also served on the Advisory Council and then for nine years on the board of trustees, including chairing the buildings and grounds committee. The school built the Manning Family Science Building and Kenan Hall while Bud was chairing the committee. Chris ’95 and Ben ’01 — two of Bud’s four children with his wife, Hennie — have both been active contributors and challenge donors for OneWoodberry in the past two years. As the Nolands considered how they wanted to continue their support of Woodberry, access and affordability became a top priority.
“Woodberry is such a formative time for boys as you’re learning from teachers and friends,” Chris says. “What’s consistent for any student who has a good experience is the high character of the people around you, especially your classmates.”
To ensure that future Woodberry boys enjoy the same rich experience that each of them enjoyed, Bud, Ben, and Chris established the Noland Family Scholarship Fund. This fund will support families who are able to pay part but not all of Woodberry’s tuition.
“It’s extremely important to make the Woodberry experience accessible to a wide range of people,” Bud says.
Chris and Ben, who both served as prefects, credit Woodberry and their peers at the school with helping them develop the values that serve them so well today.
“Your appreciation of the experience grows over time as you look back at it,” Ben says. “As you go through the world, you realize the importance of the honor and integrity that are instilled at Woodberry, and the relationships you formed with the guys who were there with you.”
Sixty years after he first arrived as a new boy, Bud thinks promoting Woodberry’s mission is more important than ever.
“A good secondary education is, in my mind, even more important than a good college education; your secondary education sets the foundation for all that comes after it,” Bud says. “Woodberry has such a positive focus on leadership and citizenship, with incredible learning opportunities both in and outside of the classroom. It’s very important for us to help sustain that.”