I have stayed closed to PDS since I graduated in 1982. My son Fred, III, is in senior kindergarten.  My father served on the board at PDS for many years, and now I am serving on the board.  PDS is a great school. I love the school, and I love where it is at this point in time. Besides my church, I can’t think of a better mission or a better cause to support than PDS.

My family and I have given to the capital campaign to name the new PDS locker room in memory of my dad, Frederick C. Schaeffer. You can’t find a school that gives a young boy a better model: the educational base, the heart, and the courage to become a good and Godly man.

PDS has always been a great school. With the leadership of Headmaster Lee Burns, PDS continually works to find ways to teach boys better. There is an unprecedented emphasis on professional learning. PDS teachers have opportunities to study at Harvard or to participate in research teams with educators from around the world. This emphasis on professional development has transformed the whole school from the days when I attended. Lee has taken the school to another level scholastically, and I mean this in regard to the boys as well as the faculty and staff. PDS is a place where everyone is learning and growing all the time.

While the mission of PDS has pretty much stayed the same over all these years, there is a commitment to fulfilling the mission even better every year. PDS is simply not a place that rests on its laurels, and the mission of building boys making men is not just words. PDS actively looks through the lens of the school’s mission and the school’s values, and asks, “How we can enhance what we do now to be better tomorrow than we are today?”

My dad passed away before he met my son and before he was able to experience PDS as a grandparent. My dad loved PDS and he was an avid sports fan, so we thought the locker room would be a great way to honor him. I know my dad would be so proud of my son at PDS and all the things PDS is doing. He would think PDS is hitting on all cylinders. He would be glad to see PDS advance its mission without ever losing its focus.

I know that it is now my generation’s time to carry the torch of leadership by investing in the preparation and development of the next generation...

Giving a gift is a very personal consideration. I invest in what I believe in, and PDS has always meant a lot to my family and me because it is the right balance—academics, faith, social and emotional growth, and physical challenges. I know that it is now my generation’s time to carry the torch of leadership by investing in the preparation and development of the next generation, just like my dad and his generation did for us. It is our time to step up and invest in the future. My investment in PDS is as much for the city of Memphis as it is for the school. The future leaders of our city are being built right now at PDS, and that excites me.


Fred Schaeffer

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