It’s the highest point in all of Africa, rising nearly 6,000 meters above sea level. To reach the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, hikers usually devote six days, maintaining a slow and steady pace that limits the effects of altitude sickness, which can otherwise be crippling.
R. Keith Sauls ’90 is a veteran of the mountain, and he’s made the hike a family affair. After Sauls summited himself in 2006, his sister reached the top with his son in 2012. This past summer, Sauls climbed atop Mt. Kilimanjaro with his daughter. Also in tow on Sauls’ latest trip: a CofC flag. Upon reaching the top this past time around, Sauls let the College flag fly. The symbolism to him was obvious: With the College of Charleston, you can reach great heights.
The Sauls family has long been givers to the College of Charleston Fund, the School of Business Dean’s Excellence Fund, the Cougar Club and the Leadership Endowment Fund. The Sauls family has also endowed the R. Keith and Melissa G. Sauls Undergraduate Scholarship for business students.
This year, Keith Sauls committed even more to the College, initiating the new Boundless Opportunity Scholarship with an endowment and further pledging a $1 million gift to the scholarship through his estate. Such generosity ensures that the College can target unique high school students and competitively recruit a diverse and intellectually impressive student body.
When the gift was announced at a recent meeting of the College’s Foundation Board of Directors, several made their own pledges to the Boundless Opportunity Scholarship fund. Additionally, the board voted to allocate a portion of its operating surplus to honor Sauls’ most recent gift and to demonstrate its continued commitment to private scholarship growth. Thanks to this team effort, future students will also be able to reach the top, no matter what summit they may be scaling.
Photo by Kip Bulwinkle ’04
