Members of the Fall 2005 Voyage recently gathered and celebrated their 20-year reunion in a way that was as memorable as the voyage itself— by coming together to launch a new endowed scholarship fund that raised more than $25,000 in under 10 minutes! Held at Club Getaway— an “adult summer camp” setting in Kent, Connecticut— the all-weekend July 2025 event drew around fifty SAS alumni.
The gathering was largely planned by Fall 2005’s Aparna Kothary, Eric Schaffer, and Pam Rosenberg, with the larger group enjoying the camp’s cabin and outdoor spaces, a reunion slideshow, and plenty of time to reconnect and reminisce.
Ben Ottenhoff, who sailed on the Fall 2005 Voyage, and his wife, Jenny Ottenhoff, a Fall 2004 SAS voyager, helped spearhead the creation of the Fall 2005 Endowed Scholarship, launched as part of this reunion gathering celebration. “We both hold Semester at Sea near and dear to our hearts,” Ben said. “We wanted to create a platform to give back, and the Fall 2005 reunion attendees brought it to life.”
The reunion proved to be an optimal moment to launch the new fund:
“We pulled up a link, and we were refreshing the screen, and I think we raised a little over $25,000 in about 7 minutes, just people in that room giving!” Ben said.
That initial surge quickly grew; a $20,000 match came in soon after, followed by matching funds for another $30,000, bringing the total current match to $50,000, significantly increasing the fund’s impact. With additional gifts, including from those who couldn’t attend, the scholarship now stands, as of August 2025, at around $125,000 (when counting pledged and in-transit matching dollars)!
The Fall 2005 Endowed Fund’s purpose is set to support and incentivize students sailing in the fall, a term that historically has lower enrollment.
“Allowing others to experience Semester at Sea is a priority for us,” Jenny said. “If I think about what shaped my life both personally and professionally, Semester at Sea is at the top of the list, and we are so glad to have joined with others to help pay this experience forward.”
Ben credits the tightly knit Fall 2005 community for the fund’s success. “This group has continued to stay in contact from the beginning,” he said. “It takes effort, and there are a lot of people geared towards building community in the Fall 2005 group. They put in the effort to plan the reunion, people showed up, had fun, and gave generously— and I’d consider them some of our closest friends.”
For Ben and Jenny, the new endowed scholarship fund is about intertwining the Fall 2005 voyage with SAS’s long-term legacy. “What this actually means is this isn’t just a one-time gift;you’re building a base of a fund that’s going to have permanent capital to it, and your donation is going to continue to work forever,” Ben said.
The hope is that other voyages, and their reunion planning groups, might be inspired to follow suit and consider making giving a part of their future voyage reunions. “When we originally started this, we were hoping for around $50,000 at most, and the fact that it’s going to be $100,000, if not more, is just really cool,” Ben said.
For Jenny, the timing for expanding access to SAS scholarships is also just right: “We’d love to see more of this, especially right now, when getting a global perspective on the world, and education in general, is so important,” she said.
We at Semester at Sea are incredibly grateful to this awesome group of voyagers for paying their SAS experience forward! Did you sail on the Fall 2005 voyage and want to contribute? There’s still time! Use this link to make your gift: Fall 2005 Endowment Fund.
