Benefit raises $327K for Skidmore scholarships
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> More than 500 guests celebrated the 40th anniversary of Skidmore College’s Polo by Twilight Palamountain Scholarship Benefit at the Saratoga Polo Fields.
The recent event, a mainstay of the Saratoga Springs summer calendar, raised $327,560, surpassing last year’s total of $318,286. Proceeds benefit the Joseph C. and Anne T. Palamountain Scholarship Fund, which honors Skidmore’s late president and his wife.
The fund has provided more than 400 scholarships for Skidmore College students since 1979.
Nkosingiphile “NK” Nonhlakanipho Mabaso, a graduate of Skidmore and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, received the sixth Anne T. Palamountain Scholar Award at the event.
Skidmore College President Philip A. Glotzbach remembered philanthropist and thoroughbred breeder and owner Marylou Whitney, who died Friday, July 19, at the age of 93. Whitney was a co-founder of the benefit, an honorary committee member and a friend of Anne Palamountain.
Glotzbach described Whitney as “a very special friend of Skidmore, Saratoga Springs and the whole region” and lauded her “passion, leadership, tireless advocacy and inimitable style.” He also praised Whitney’s generosity, saying: “Many have followed her example and thousands have benefitted from it.”
Glotzbach thanked event cochairs Scott Erickson and Yvonne McEachron and the many volunteers who have made the benefit a success over the past four
decades. Tuesday’s guests participated in silent and live auctions, and enjoyed a gourmet dinner prepared by Skidmore’s award-winning chefs.
Mabaso, who graduated from Skidmore in 2019 with a degree in sociology with a minor in computer science, spoke to attendees about her experience growing up in poverty near Johannesburg, South Africa, and opportunities afforded by education.
“All of you are here out of your own kindness, love, support, faith, optimism and hope for others,” said Mabaso. “I get to stand here today where so many other intelligent, hard-working, thoughtful and ambitious scholars have stood to receive this award. I am honored beyond belief.”
In the same spirit of leadership, service to others and commitment to the larger good of society that Anne Palamountain championed, Mabaso shared a message in Zulu, one of the languages of South Africa: “Lokhu enikwenzele mina, ngathi ningaqhubeka nikwenzele abanye.”
It means: “That which you have done for me, may you continue to do for others.”