Scholarship Support Inspires Alum to Pay It Forward

If you ask anyone who met Zane Cavender while he was a student at SMU, they would probably tell you that his claim to fame isn’t the plethora of ways he was involved on campus, but rather his hilarious and spot-on impression of President R. Gerald Turner. Even Dr. Turner himself has fond memories of Zane’s impersonation!

Before Zane even had the opportunity to perfect this particular skill, he was a kid from small-town Texas and dreamed of attending SMU. According to Zane, SMU is a “magical place,” and he knew he wanted to be a part of it. In order to make his dream a reality, Zane needed financial help. Enter the Hunt Leadership Scholarship Program. This scholarship, and an opportunity to participate in the Hunt Program, was the deciding factor that allowed Zane to attend SMU.

During his time at SMU, Zane was involved in both student government and Greek life on campus. He served as a student representative to the Board of Trustees for all four of his years on the Hilltop, as student body vice president, as a student senator and as an Inter-Fraternity Council executive committee member. He also held multiple leadership roles in Beta Theta Pi and the Texas Federation of College Republicans. Even with so many extracurricular activities, when asked about his classes he says that, unequivocally, Professor Diana H. Newton and her National Security Policy course had the most profound impact on his educational experience. He continues to utilize lessons he learned in her class to this day.

Like Professor Newton’s class, SMU inspired Zane and, in turn, his goals and ambitions for the future. “My time there made me a better person, professional and community member, and propelled me to follow my dreams into the legal profession.”

Although Zane left the State of Texas and is currently practicing law in Nashville, he stays involved as an alumnus. Every year he interviews Hunt Scholarship applicants and spends time with fraternity alumni and other Mustangs in Nashville. He even dabbled in event planning when he served on the Class of 2014 reunion committee. While Zane and his fiance, Abby, Class of 2015, live a thousand miles away, they both do their best to make it back to Dallas and the Hilltop as frequently as possible.

Even though Zane has given, and continues to give, so much to his alma mater, he found a way to create a lasting impact by making a gift to SMU through his estate. In fact, after passing the Tennessee bar exam, updating his estate plan and including SMU as a beneficiary was one of the first items on his to-do list. Zane knows that alumni generosity gave him the opportunity to attend his dream school and he wants to pay that forward. By creating an estate gift, Zane will provide for SMU far into the future. To Zane, “there is no student body in the world more deserving” of such generosity than SMU.