PAT MUELLER ’74 AND DAVID MERVES: DONORS PLAN A GIFT TO BENEFIT OUT-OF-CLASSROOM LEARNING

Pat Mueller ’74 knew at a young age that she was interested in teaching, so she leaped at the chance to spend a few weeks during the winter of her senior year interning in the classroom of her fifth-grade teacher in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

“That solidified my desire to go into education,” she said in a recent interview, recalling her experience in what was then the School’s Winterim program. “To be in an atmosphere where you were sort of a semiprofessional was reinforcing to me because I realized that this was what I really wanted to be doing.”

After graduating from Porter’s, Pat went on to earn a bachelor’s, a master’s, and a doctorate in education from the University of Vermont with a focus on special education. She was a classroom teacher for several years before founding Evergreen Evaluation & Consulting (eecvt.com) in 1990. Her husband, David Merves, is the firm’s CFO.

Pat’s experience with Winterim was one of the reasons why Pat and David, who are regular Annual Fund donors, made a six-figure gift to Miss Porter’s School in 2020. Their gift underwrites expenses associated with international and experiential learning programs “to foster the spirit of connectedness, confidence, and challenge” and “to inspire students to be passionate as well as curious” as they develop into informed global citizens.

For David, it’s about “providing young women the opportunity to take their academics and round them out with opportunities to see how they can carry what they’re learning into their future lives to benefit others.”

Pat and David have gone on to supplement their initial 2020 donation by designating the School as a beneficiary of their retirement accounts. Doing this provides future additional support for students to participate in internships and international learning.

“These types of programs set Porter’s apart from its counterpart independent schools,” said Pat, who is co-chair of the Alumnae Board and a past class representative. “The Winterim experience was a high point of my years at Porter’s. Part of the reason for our gifts is paying it forward but also instilling and providing current students the opportunity to see what an impact they can make. It’s totally about growing leaders—in whatever capacity.”