EAGLES Foundation gifts $1.8 million to Auburn University in support of EAGLES Program endowed scholarship

The EAGLES program in Auburn University’s College of Education continues to soar high with an enduring and strong foundation of support.

Recently, the EAGLES Foundation, a private non-profit organization, gifted $1.8 million to Auburn University in support of the Education to Accomplish Growth in Life Experiences for Success (EAGLES) program. 

The gift will support an endowed scholarship in EAGLES, with awards to students with intellectual disabilities beginning as early as this fall. 

“We are immensely grateful to the EAGLES Foundation for its continuing support of our EAGLES program, which is further opening doors to opportunity and improving the lives of so many,” said Jeffrey Fairbrother, dean and Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor of Auburn's College of Education. “EAGLES is such a great example of the power of education and how we as a college work hard every day to remove barriers. The EAGLES Foundation’s great work has been vital in advancing this life-changing program and helping us fulfill our college’s mission of building a better future for all.”

EAGLES is a comprehensive transition program for students with intellectual disabilities, focused on academic enrichment, the teaching of personal and social skills, independent living skills, health and wellness enhancement and integrated work experiences. The EAGLES Foundation was formed five years ago by its board of directors: Denise Slupe, Sarah Newton and Katie Basden.

All three are vital members of the Auburn Family with deep roots on the Plains. Slupe is the daughter of Lloyd Nix, the famed quarterback for Auburn's first national championship team. Newton is a former Auburn University Board of Trustees member who was instrumental in having the EAGLES program started, and Basden is a third-generation Auburn student and former Auburn cheerleader. The group started the EAGLES Foundation after seeing the positive impact that Auburn’s EAGLES program was having on families of students with intellectual disabilities and after realizing the financial constraints of the program’s cost on those enrolled.  

What brought Slupe, Newton and Basden together were three special children — years apart in age but with hearts that bleed orange and blue. Slupe’s daughter, Lauren, and Newton’s grandson, Jack, were both diagnosed at birth with Down Syndrome, and Basden’s son, Bradley, was born with a rare genetic disorder causing him cognitive and physical challenges. So, Slupe, Newton and Basden knew firsthand the importance and great benefit of a program like EAGLES and worked hard to help have such a program supported through the years. 

Today, Newton looks back on it all in amazement, recalling how the idea of an EAGLES program began while she was an Auburn Board of Trustees member. Newton wanted her grandson, Jack, and others like him to be able to leave home and experience Auburn just like any other student. She remembers presenting the idea to then-Auburn President Jay Gogue, noting how Auburn’s land-grant mission perfectly aligned with the concept of the EAGLES program. She said Gogue was so excited at the possibility and asked Newton to begin researching other programs across the country with the goal of making Auburn’s program the best. 

Flash forward to today. At the end of the spring semester, the EAGLES program will have a brand new home in the recently named Scott Alan Lawrence Suite of the college’s new building at the corner of Samford Avenue and Duncan Drive. The naming recognizes the great generosity of Roger and Margaret Lawrence and their continued stalwart support of the program with a recent $5 million planned gift that will honor Scott’s life and legacy for generations to come.  

Currently, the EAGLES program is based out of Foy Hall. The program’s new location will include an EAGLES reception area, tech lab, kitchen and life skills lab for experiential learning. Additionally, in January, EAGLES was named the recipient of a $75,000 grant through the annual Chick-fil-A True Inspiration Awards® program.

EAGLES program director Betty Patten expressed her immense gratitude to the EAGLES Foundation, noting how scholarships established in perpetuity go such a long way in removing financial barriers. 

“The generosity and support of such influential Auburn Family and friends is a testament to the belief they have in the work that we are doing,” she said.

Newton said she is in awe of just how much has been accomplished through the EAGLES program since its inception and how it has bettered the lives of the program’s students and, in turn, that of Auburn and its community as a whole. She said it’s been a joy to witness how wholeheartedly the Auburn Family has supported the program, from EAGLES students working on campus to fellow Auburn students building friendships for a lifetime with EAGLES students as part of the WINGS (Warmhearted Individuals Nurturing Great Success) Peer Mentor Program. Put simply, EAGLES students are rock stars at Auburn, being fully embraced and involved on campus. 

“What has touched me is the heart of the Auburn people,” Newton said of EAGLES' great support. “And I’m so thankful to be a part of a people that share that belief of making the world a better place and helping those less fortunate.”

Since its inception and thanks to donations from the public, the EAGLES Foundation has already provided $296,000 in scholarships to EAGLES students, more than $25,000 in direct student support to the EAGLES program and built a scholarship endowment for the future. Most recently, the foundation gifted the $1.8 million to Auburn University to oversee that endowed scholarship in perpetuity.

“We are so proud of Auburn University's work in making the EAGLES program such an integrated part of student life,” Slupe said. “The EAGLES students and the rest of the student population benefit from their presence on campus. I’m glad to have been a small part of making this happen.”

Basden shared a similar sentiment. 

“Since our son Bradley was in the original cohort of EAGLES students at Auburn, we experienced the life-change firsthand that occurs for the students and their families,” she said. “It was a joy to help start this foundation to provide financial assistance to other families like ours so their students could gain the skills to live and thrive independently.”

She added that “Denise, Sarah and I were only the voices, hands and conduits for the generous donations of hundreds of friends, family members and others who loved Auburn.  This scholarship endowment will allow the EAGLES and their families to have the same opportunities our family had with Bradley. We look forward to seeing the endowment grow and bless these exceptional students long after we are gone, as they live out their Auburn dream.”