The Tom Gibbons Scholarship
Wagner Prep established the Tom Gibbons Scholarship in memory of Tom Gibbons, who spent over 25 years at Xavier as a coach, teacher, counselor, dean, and college advisor. Each year, the scholarship provides students with a full year of SAT or ACT prep and college advising, at no cost to their family.
A note from Mike Wagner, Founder of Wagner Prep
Before Wagner Prep existed, I was a teacher at St. Francis Prep. Tom Gibbons and I knew each other from rec basketball games at Archbishop Molloy, where he was a tenacious defender who never gave up a rebound without a fight. Tom spent over 25 years at Xavier as a coach, teacher, counselor, dean, and college advisor. When I left teaching to start Wagner Prep, Tom was one of the first people who believed in what I was building. He saw the same thing in me that he spent his career looking for in his students: someone who genuinely wanted the best for the kids in front of him.
Tom passed away, but the way he showed up for students hasn't left us. This scholarship is our way of carrying a piece of that forward.
What the scholarship provides
Each year, we award a limited number of students a full year of support, at no cost to the student or their family:
Free enrollment in one of our Fall, Winter, or Spring SAT or ACT classes
10 one-on-one tutoring sessions to build on what they learn in class
15 hours of personalized college advising, including school list building, essay support, and application strategy
How a student is chosen
Right now, students are nominated by their high school. We're inviting more schools to take part beyond our founding partner, and starting January 10, 2027, we'll also open a direct application on our website so any student can apply.
How the scholarship grows
The Tom Gibbons Scholarship is generously funded through our own community. For every 10 families who join Wagner Prep through a referral, we're able to fund one additional scholarship. If you've referred a family to us, you've had a hand in this.
Recipient Update
Our first recipient started the scholarship in January 2026 and will graduate in 2027. He came to us focused on creative fields like film and design, still sorting out where he wanted to apply and what he wanted to study.
Every student's needs are different, and for this recipient, that's meant leaning more heavily into the advising hours than the test prep. Over several months, we worked through his college list together, weighing fit, cost, and selectivity against schools he'd seen in person or heard about at college fairs. Affordability mattered to him, so a good chunk of our time went to finding schools that made sense financially, not just schools that looked good on paper.
We also went through his activities and creative work with him, session by session, helping him see what he already had and how to describe it clearly for applications. Some of that work fed directly into early thinking about portfolio pieces and what different programs might ask to see.
In addition to the college application work, he's had a place to bring finals stress, half-formed ideas, and genuine uncertainty about what comes next. That's the part of the scholarship that's harder to put a number on, having someone in his corner who's part mentor, part coach, and fully in his court. We're looking forward to continuing to work with him through his senior year.
Free Practice SAT Test
Each month we offer a full-length, proctored digital SAT practice test that your student can take at home. If you prefer more flexibility, you can also email info@wagnerprep.com and we will set your student up with a free, on-demand practice test they can take at any time.
Once completed, we’ll review their score report and help you understand strengths, timing patterns, and areas for improvement. This is a great first step if you aren’t sure where to begin.
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