In 1999, Dr. Andrea Sodano ’65 approached Graland to establish a fund in honor of her mother: the Virginia Addison Sodano Scholarship Fund.
Virginia Addison Sodano had a passion for learning. She served as a recruiter for the United States Navy during World War II, later worked for the United Nations Relief Association in China, and spent the rest of her career as an executive with the Air Force Accounting and Finance Office. She was a single parent who did an outstanding job of raising her daughter. She taught Andrea the importance of education and the joy of learning. Because education was a high priority, Virginia wanted her daughter to attend Graland Country Day School. With hard work on her part and scholarship assistance, her daughter was able to attend Graland and receive an outstanding education.
To this day, Dr. Andrea Sodano values the strong educational foundation she received at Graland. From Graland she went on to attend George Washington High School, University of Colorado, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where she earned her Ph.D. in clinical and organizational psychology, and fellowships at Yale University Medical school and Harvard Medical School. Her long career includes executive positions at IBM, Symmetrix, the Hay Group and Walmart. Dr. Sodano finished her career as an Executive in Residence, mentoring and creating internship programs for the Health and Life Sciences MBA’s, at the Boston University School of Business, where she served for 8 years. She is now fully retired and spends her time volunteering, participating on boards, and traveling post-COVID.
Dr. Sodano’s gift signals her commitment to families facing similar financial challenges that she and her mother faced. She designed the fund to support a Graland student like herself, a financial aid recipient who is the child of a single parent. She is also a member of the Montem Society, having arranged with her estate to fund the scholarship in perpetuity upon her passing. In so doing, her gift allows future students to pursue their own joy of learning.
“Graland and my mother created a community of caring, giving, educational stimulation, and challenge that provided me with lifelong learning and dedication to offering the same thing to the child of a single parent,” says Dr. Sodano. “Everything I am today is a result of that partnership. Graland has always been one of the best experiences I have had.”
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