St. Peter/Kasota’s Dollars for Scholars chapter began a summer scholarship program in 2019 for recent past graduates of Saint Peter High School, after receiving a matching grant from Scholarship America. So far that program has been deemed a success, with a lot of the credit going to some local couples.
“We were tasked to raise $10,000 and they (Scholarship America) said they would match that,” Tracey Peymann, St. Peter/Kasota Dollars for Scholars chairperson, said. “Roger and Sharon Bakken from St. Peter contributed a large amount towards our share and they were given naming rights.”
According to Peymann, the award is renewable for three years and is required to increase in size each year; $500 for first year, $1,000 for second year, and $1,500 for the third year for a total of $3,000.
“Since one of the requirements is the completion of one full year, we needed to start a second application process with the criteria set by Scholarship America,” Peymann said.
The summer of 2022 was the first time the local chapter offered the scholarships sponsored by local residents, Mike and Diane Stewart, who moved to this area about five years ago. We had a chance recently to catch up with the Stewarts to find out more about their interest in helping SPHS students out through their scholarship sponsorship.
“The Stewarts sponsored two renewable scholarships for $10,000 per year for up to three years, for a total of $60,000,” Peymann said. “Those two recipients have graduated, and this year they sponsored two more.”
The following is a brief Q&A with the Stewarts:
What prompted your interest in getting involved with the St. Peter/Kasota Dollars for Scholars summer scholarship program? - We feel very strongly that education is important to student's futures and so we wanted to help some students with their college education. We hope that our scholarships will allow the students to have no or very little college debt so that they can get off to a good start with their career after they graduate.
How long have you lived in the St Peter area, and where did you live prior to that? - We were both life long Nebraskans until we moved here in 2020. Most of our years were spent in Aurora, Nebraska where I was a middle school science teacher and coach and Diane was a medical technologist in the hospital lab.
Our son, daughter-in-law and only grandchild live in Minneapolis. We didn't want to live in the Twin Cities and wanted to be on the southwest side of Minneapolis so we would be closer to Nebraska where most of our relatives still live. We looked at several houses in several towns and found a place in St Peter that we liked. We had driven through several times in the past and always thought it looked like a nice town and we liked it being a college town.
The following are the recent winners of the St. Peter/Kasota Dollars for Scholars summer scholarship program:
R & D Bradley Memorial Scholarship 2022: Jack Sourbeck
V & E Stewart Memorial Scholarship 2022: Erin Hil
R & D Bradley Memorial Scholarship 2025: Ryan Domras
V & E Stewart Memorial Scholarship 2025: CeeJay King
For more information on the St. Peter-Kasota Dollars for Scholars chapter and how to donate for future scholarships please see the following link → https://shorturl.at/tWriw.