John & Ester Scheibel: Building a Legacy of Education Through Graduate Scholarships

For Ester Kurz Scheibel, the daughter of Holocaust survivors who came to America when she was four years old, education was the gateway to opportunity her family desperately needed.

"Neither of my parents graduated high school," Ester reflects. "When they came to this country, they had nothing and could not even speak English. But they believed in the power of education.”

Years later, as a Harvard grad retired from a long and successful career on Capitol Hill, Ester and her husband John are striving to pass that same opportunity on to others through a scholarship for low income graduate students.

The Graduate degree education gap in DC

For decades, the Greater Washington region has been one of the most educated populations in the country.

Home to institutions such as Georgetown University, George Washington University, and Howard University, DC and its neighboring communities in Maryland and Northern Virginia boast one of the highest concentrations of graduate degrees per capita — around 25% of DC residents.

For many, these advanced degrees open the doors to economic opportunity and life-altering career growth.

But with that opportunity also comes a staggering cost. According to the Education Data Initiative, DC has more student loan debt than any other state with an average of $54,561 per borrower. That’s more than 24% of DC residents earn in a year.

Becoming a Man for Others - From Classroom to Career

Students from the Washington Jesuit Academy Graduating Class of 2014

John witnessed the ripple effects of that statistic first-hand, when he left behind a career working for Yahoo on Capitol Hill to become a middle-school teacher at an all-boys school in Northeast DC.

“These kids were inspiring,” John recalled. “A lot of them came from very difficult socioeconomic backgrounds; a lot of their parents didn’t go to college—let alone a graduate program. So, I made it my goal, as a teacher, to help them understand what college could do for them.”

Over the next thirteen years, John taught dozens of students the importance of grit, of making “his-story”, and of fulfilling the school’s motto: becoming a man for others by giving back. A motto that John saw fully realized, year after year at graduation and beyond, as his students grew from boys to men and from students to fathers, husbands, and working professionals.

However, as John approached retirement, he reflected on a troubling trend that he had noticed throughout his teaching career.

“I kept seeing guys graduate from college and then they’d just stop,” he remembered. “Even if they wanted to go on and pursue a post-graduate degree, the resources just weren’t there.”

"In this region, you often need that post-graduate degree to succeed. I saw a lot of kids that could have had more success but couldn't without putting themselves in incredible debt.

When John shared this observation with Ester, they decided to approach The Community Foundation about setting up a scholarship fund for graduate students pursuing professional degrees in law, medicine, business, or other fields that will “propel them to personal success and allow them to give back.”

"The idea is to not only lift up an individual,” John explains. “But potentially—as that individual succeeds as a lawyer or a doctor—that person can lift up their family and their community.”

People like Jordan, one of the first recipients of the John & Ester Scheibel Family Foundation Scholarship. Jordan is an incredibly talented and driven Prince Georgian who has already made an incredible impact in his community as the interim Director of Development for Community Legal Services. Jordan was recently accepted into Rutgers Law School with the goal of using his law degree as a tool for good and becoming an advocate for social justice after graduation.

“Society would have you believe that a young Black man raised in Riverdale, MD, as one of 11 children could only dream of pursuing such a career,” Jordan wrote. “Yet, I am on this path by God’s grace, the unwavering love of my family, the support of my friends, and my determination to become the example that I needed.”

Building a Legacy after retirement

For John and Ester, playing a small role to helping people like Jordan is exactly the kind of legacy that they want to leave in retirement.

Ester and one of her young mentees from Empowering the Ages.

“When you have a career, people tell you to pursue your passion,” John explains. “I think the same is true in retirement, go find whatever you’re passionate about and figure out a way that you can give back. For us, that passion is education.”

In addition to their scholarship, John and Ester are actively involved in tutoring through Empowering the Ages and New Neighbors Interfaith Alliance, two Montgomery County nonprofits that connect seniors with children of all ages who need help with school.

Ester is also an active Board Member of Giving Together, a giving circle of committed women who fund and volunteer for organizations in the DC area.

“Working with [The Community Foundation] has been a wonderful experience," Ester notes. "They have helped us fine tune our ideas and move forward in a more intentional way that fits us."

“Your legacy is the people you touch,” John added. “The knowledge that by working through The Community Foundation, we can continue to touch people’s lives by helping them further their education—even long after we’re gone—is extremely comforting to me.”

“That’s the kind of legacy we want to leave.”