In October of last year, heartbreak rippled through the Westport community when Max Harper ’25 passed away unexpectedly. Max’s kindness, energy and warmth left an imprint on anyone who knew him. In the days that followed, students across all grades joined together to tell stories to honor the friend they had lost.
Out of grief grew something everlasting, the Live Life to the Max fund. Created in Max’s memory, this foundation supports students with ADHD to gain resources they couldn’t otherwise access.
“The Max Harper – Live Life to the Max – Award has prioritized students who have financial need and self-report to Staples Tuition Grants that they have ADHD,” Staples Tuition Grant representative Joan Gillman said.
Harper, having dealt with some of these obstacles himself, wanted to help students overcome the same struggles he went through. The Harper family chose to honor his memory through a grant that supports an issue he cared deeply about. Others began taking interest in the cause as it resonated with them. In the end, everyone at Staples Tuition Grants put plenty of effort into creating this fund.
“It took a village to support the extraordinary outpouring of support for the Harper Family,” Gillman said.
The Harper family is one among several other families who have lost a loved one and put efforts into a fund. Staples Tuition Grants supports hundreds of funds within the Staples community. It is a wonderful way to honor the memory of those who passed, expanding upon their interests and legacy.
“As an example, five, 10, 25 and 50 years from now,” Gillman said, “affording college or attending a trade school will be made easier for the student who receives the Max Harper Award. The student will want to know more about who Max Harper was and how he ‘Lived life to the Max.’”
The implementation of this fund has allowed the Staples community to learn more about their late classmate. Students of all grades can research the fund online or even listen to the many stories teachers often share.
Staples students aren’t the only ones who mourn the loss of their beloved classmate. Many adults and teachers admired Max for his innate abilities and easy-going personality.
“He got along with everybody, students and adults, which is a rare quality, [the] kind of someone who is wise beyond their years,” Principal Stafford W. Thomas said.
In all its growth and development throughout the year, Max Harper’s award will continue to benefit students. The ideas and hard work attached to the fund will allow it to endure.
“The great concept that is attached to it is the fact that it helps not just students, but the parents as well,” Thomas said. “So it really reaches the entire family with skilled resources from professionals that come up with strategies that will alleviate a lot of the stressors that come from ADHD and other things that students are thinking about, [that] families are thinking about.”
