Meet Our Board of Directors: Margaret Requet

Meet Our Board of Directors series is an invitation for supporters and friends of Aim Higher Foundation to meet the amazingly talented and dedicated individuals who give so much of themselves to the students and families we serve.

Margaret Requet (far right) delivers Aim Higher Scholarships to Shakopee Area Catholic School during the foundation’s annual Check Delivery Marathon.

Margaret Requet joined the Aim Higher Foundation’s Board of Directors in January of 2022. She taught elementary school for eight years before choosing to stay home to raise her children and volunteer for several academic and community organizations important to her family. Margaret has been a long-time board member of the Advisory Board for the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at the University of Notre Dame. She is also a member of the Advisory Council and Development Committee for Notre Dame Academy in Minnetonka. Formerly, Margaret held several additional volunteer leadership positions in organizations focused on education in the Twin Cities area. 

Margaret’s passion for education has made her a highly valued member of Aim Higher Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Margaret ‘s knowledge of the local and national educational landscape combined with her sincere passion for underserved children is invaluable to our mission,” notes Camille Kiolbasa, Director of Advancement, Fundraising Strategy. “Margaret is a true servant leader. She regularly steps in to do big lifts, most notably managing our annual gala auction, and is particularly gifted in marketing, communications, and helping to expand our donor base.” Margaret has served on the Board’s Scholarship, Development, and Governance committees. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 with
a BA in psychology and a minor in the Arts and Letters Program for Administrators. In 1988, Margaret received her Masters of Education from the University of Illinois. She and her husband, Ed, live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and have three adult children, (Matthew, University of Notre Dame ’18; Eric, University of Notre Dame ’20 & ’24; and Claire, Butler University ’22).

When asked “Why Aim Higher?”, Margaret responded, “As a past educator, my passion has been and continues to be providing education for children in a nurturing, faith-based environment.  The focused mission of Aim Higher, ‘providing access to the life-changing benefits of a Catholic education,’ is in direct alignment with my personal beliefs, and it is where I choose to focus my resources and attention.”

Margaret notes that she and her husband were both able to experience a Catholic education growing up, and as parents, they were fortunate to be able to provide their children with a Catholic education, from kindergarten up through graduate school. She shares, “The benefits of a faith-based education are both measurable in academic performance data, and immeasurable in building lifelong faith and character in a stable, value-oriented learning environment.  I want to be able to make this possible for all children by providing parents the opportunity to make a choice to send their children to a Catholic school should they wish.  Making this choice possible for parents also gives them the dignity they deserve,” Margaret emphasizes.

From a Board member’s perspective, Margaret believes that the impact the Aim Higher Foundation has made is evident empirically, both in the high retention rate of Aim Higher Scholars and the increasing number of students receiving scholarships each year who demonstrate full need. But the impact is even more evident to Margaret when she witnesses the effect these scholars have on their respective school communities and the gratitude they regularly share with donors.

When Margaret looks at the future of the Aim Higher Foundation, her primary aspiration is that Aim Higher will be able to consistently provide scholarships to each and every applicant who demonstrates full need, so that the benefits of a Catholic education can be fully realized by all who desire it. Margaret shares, “On a larger scale, my hope for the Aim Higher Foundation is that it will continue to grow in reputation and become the premier tuition assistance model as a benchmark for other foundations and organizations to replicate across the country.”