A Steady Beat for Whitman: Monthly Gifts Sustain the College’s Ongoing, Impactful Mission

In a great symphony, every note, every instrument, matters—and joins in a powerful crescendo. In the same way, every gift to Whitman College comes together to play a part in providing transformative educational opportunities to today’s students and future generations.

Meet two alums who give monthly to boost The Whitman Fund and programs that matter to them, producing a steady drumbeat of support that grows stronger year after year.

The Power of Community

Isaiah Banta ’20 often designates his monthly gifts to Whitman’s Summer Fly-In Program, which brings incoming first-generation and working-class students to campus during the summer for a pre-orientation visit. Whitman covers all the costs associated with Summer Fly-In—while students get a taste of residence hall life, learn about resources available to them on campus and start building relationships with their classmates before the start of the fall semester. The experience helps students develop a support system and eases the transition to college.

When Banta first received his invitation to Summer Fly-In, he thought it was too good to be true. Then he got a call from the Dean of Students’ office—they reassured him it was the real deal and encouraged him to attend. From getting picked up at the Walla Walla airport to rooming with another student, Eli Holliday ’20, who would become one of his best friends, Banta took this early experience with Whitman as a sign of great things ahead. 

“Whitman took relationships and hospitality seriously—really practicing what they were preaching,” he says. “I had never seen that level of commitment.” 

By designating his gifts to Summer Fly-In, Banta hopes to ensure that future students receive the same support that made such a positive impression on him.

Once on campus as a student, Banta thrived—getting involved in student government, residence life and campus tours, among other things. He also started exploring his academic interests and planning for the future. 

Banta majored in Computer Science, initially thinking of it as a stepping stone to a lucrative career.

“My mom sacrificed a lot for me to be here. My grandparents sacrificed a lot for me to be here,” he says. “So I felt very indebted.” But it was his experiences outside the classroom that sparked an interest in his current career in community organizing. 

When COVID-19 struck, Banta was a Resident Assistant and President of the Associated Students of Whitman College. He came together with other campus leaders to organize the pandemic response. He recalls rushing to help an international student facilitate a return flight home to South Korea before the borders closed. “I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s a job like this that exists somewhere,’” he says. “At that point, I didn’t have the language of community organizing, but it did get me to start reading about it.” 

Witnessing the power of a collaborative environment transformed his future, he says. “I got a lot less transactional about how I saw Whitman, developed relationships and saw that it was a lot more.” 

Today, Banta works as a community organizer in Texas and volunteers as a member of Whitman’s Alumni Board of Directors.

“There are many ways to get involved,” Banta says, “including Whitman’s GOLD Council,” a network of Graduates of the Last Decade dedicated to representing the perspectives of young alumni.

“I see Whitman as an institution that I hope will stand the test of time and where I can continue to be involved so I can be a part of guiding it,” he says.

Opening Doors to Opportunity

Tara Goldsmith Zimmerman ’96 has been making annual gifts to Whitman for 27 years. In 2017, she set up a recurring monthly gift to The Whitman Fund to support scholarships and student aid.

“As a Whitman student, I received significant aid,” she says. “I never would have been able to attend without the financial aid offered by the college. I want to give others the opportunity I received.” 

Growing up in Redmond, Washington, Whitman was always on Zimmerman’s radar. She liked that it was an academically rigorous option that would allow her to be away from home—but not too far—and was thrilled when she was admitted with scholarships. 

She majored in Biology and still remembers how much she enjoyed the classes she took at Whitman, especially marine biology and ecology. 

“Initially, I planned to be pre-med, so Biology made sense for that, but even when I changed my mind about medical school, I still loved Biology,” she says. 

“I am a naturalist at heart.” She works in internal communications now and says her understanding of organizational dynamics is informed by what she learned back then about ecological systems.

At Whitman, she also had eye-opening research opportunities that allowed her to work alongside her professors. “The summer before my senior year, I had the privilege of traveling with my major advisor, Dr. Heidi Dobson, to Sweden to do research for my thesis,” she says. “My travel experience before that was minimal, and the trip was transformative. I ended up serving as a Peace Corps volunteer after graduation, in part for the opportunity to travel and learn about new parts of the world.”

Through her on-campus work as a Resident Assistant and Senior Resident, Zimmerman also found some of her best friends, with whom she stays in touch today. “We gather from across the country for birthdays and adventures,” she says. “I think we all enjoy watching each other’s children grow up, but there is also an easy comfort we have with each other. It is a true joy to have friends who have known me for most of my life.” 

Zimmerman recently returned to campus—this time to visit with her son. “It was lovely to be back at Whitman and to see all the new investment in residence halls and learn about new programs,” she says. 

As she reflects on her time at Whitman, she encourages students to take full advantage of this time of curiosity and exploration. “There will never be a time in your life again where opportunities are presented to you in quite the same way as they are in college,” she says. 

With her consistent support—and that of so many others—those opportunities are only increasing for today’s students.