Planned Giving Donor Profile
Alum Chris Raspante '80
Donor Gives Back to Carmel for a Great Start in Life
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As an educator, Chris Raspante ‘80 understands how a positive educational experience can impact a student’s success later in life. Chris says Carmel played a vital role in his life. His Carmel experience put him on a path that has allowed him to use his skills and abilities enabling him to become a successful businessman and school principal.
“I really believe that if I didn’t go to Carmel, my life would have turned out considerably different than if I had gone to a public school. That’s why I support Carmel. For me, my Carmel experience had a lot to do with who I am today.”
Chris is the principal and one of three partner owners of the Bridge View/Challenger Day School in Niles, Illinois. He has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology; two Masters Degrees: Counseling and Special Education; and a degree in School Administration. His faculty teaches children who have special education and discipline needs. He now shapes the future of students who also need a caring, yet structured, school environment that encourages them to succeed.
Reflecting on his success, Chris recognizes that donating through Planned Giving and as a yearly Carmel Society member, he can further Carmel’s mission and have a positive impact on a young person’s future. He first started contributing to Carmel’s Annual Fund to give back. Later, when he became a partner in the Bridge View/Challenger Day School, he was advised to establish a trust. His attorney asked Chris about Charitable Giving and suggested designating an amount of the trust to a charity. Chris said he immediately thought of Carmel as well as his local parish.
“If people sit down and take a look at their lifestyle and begin to equate some of the luxuries their current lifestyle affords them to dollars and cents, they should ask themselves if it is worth sending a percentage of this figure to the people who helped them succeed. I don’t see how you could not give something. It’s a very painless kind of a thing, particularly in an estate.”
Chris attended a public grade school in Waukegan. He described himself as a “rambunctious student with an attitude,” earning Cs or Ds. His parents decided on Carmel because they felt his problems would only continue if he went to a public high school. Chris said he felt the Carmel faculty and staff provided a caring, positive attitude along with firm structure and discipline.
“Because Carmel was smaller, the teachers were more attentive to what I needed. I received positive reinforcement immediately. I quickly learned that my rambunctious attitude wasn’t going to fly.” In his first year, he “grew to love Carmel.” He quickly made friends from all over Lake County some of whom he keeps in touch with today.
For additional information, please contact Michael C. Looby '75, Gift Planning Director at 847-388-3338.
