Gifts for the future
Worthington Dollars for Scholars chapter awards nearly $23,000 to 26 students WednesdayWORTHINGTON — According to Worthington High School (WHS) alumnus Mike Patrick, it is important that he helps send a young person to college every year.
By: Jane Turpin Moore, Worthington Daily Globe
- Scolars and donors
- Scolars
WORTHINGTON — According to Worthington High School (WHS) alumnus Mike Patrick, it is important that he helps send a young person to college every year.
“That’s going to be my legacy,” he said Wednesday evening during the annual Dollars for Scholars awards ceremony.
Assembled in the WHS cafeteria for the ceremony, qualifying seniors and their families listened attentively to what Patrick, a donor to the Worthington chapter’s endowment and a self-described “10th grade drop-out,” had to say.
“Attitude makes the difference, and an education takes you where you want to go,” Patrick stated.
Buoyed by the presence of two of his WHS classmates whose daughters were among those receiving scholarships, Patrick, who was tragically injured during a Sept. 3, 1971, football game at Trojan Field, urged the students to embrace their educational opportunities as well as their loved ones.
“Appreciate the people you’ve got while they’re still here,” he said.
Patrick was one of several special guests at the Dollars for Scholars ceremony, during which nearly $23,000 was awarded to 26 deserving students. Other donors were also present to meet the students who would benefit from the funds they or their families had provided.
Among them were Beth Habicht and her brother, Harold Shipman, who created the Anna Lois Shipman Memorial Endowed Scholarship in memory of their late mother, and Shawn Moore, daughter of Doris Rubsam. An endowed scholarship in memory of Rubsam and her dear friend, Fredi Lowry, was also new this year.
“My mom loved school and she was always an outstanding student, but as a young adult during the Great Depression, going to college was not an option,” Habicht said of her mother. “But she never lost her passion for learning and experiencing new things, and she loved the idea of helping students, even in the least little way, to realize their dreams.
“This (Dollars for Scholars) was a natural and meaningful place to preserve her memory.”
The Anna Lois Shipman Memorial provided a $1,000 scholarship and this year’s beneficiary was Claire Bents, a senior who will attend St. Olaf College with intentions of becoming a history teacher.
Appropriately, Mariah Haffield, a senior bound for Minnesota State University-Mankato, received the $1,000 Mike Patrick/Milt Osterberg Endowed Scholarship; her father, Dwayne, was one of Patrick’s classmates.
Similarly, Rachel Sternke was the recipient of the $900 Fredi Lowry/Doris Rubsam Memorial Endowed Scholarship. Her parents had been students of Rubsam’s in their elementary school years.
Those awards were merely happy coincidences, as the Dollars for Scholars applicants are selected through a blind review process and the 10-member local board makes the award allocations before knowing the names of the students.
“We don’t see the names until after we’ve decided, based on the criteria and the scores the students receive from the objective reviewers, which scholarships in which amounts will be awarded,” said Jan Larson, a Dollars for Scholars board member.
Students wishing to be considered for Dollars for Scholars awards must complete applications, which are then sent on to the non-profit Scholarship America office in St. Peter where they are evaluated anonymously. Students are ranked based on personal data, employment and extracurricular involvement, teacher appraisals, class GPA and ACT scores.
In another ironic twist, Larson, now a WHS counselor, was a Worthington nurse at the time of Patrick’s fateful accident, and she helped care for him during his hospitalization thereafter.
“This is my community service,” explained Larson of her Dollars for Scholars involvement. “I believe in education and I’m totally convinced that education is the way for nations to grow and people to be successful. These scholarships tell the students their community supports them, and the money is raised right here.”
Besides the endowed scholarships the Worthington Dollars for Scholars chapter has received, other regular fundraising endeavors include the “points sponsorships” to which local businesses contribute ($2 per touchdown at WHS football games, 50 cents per point at WHS basketball games) and an annual four-person golf scramble tournament, scheduled this year for June 25.
The local chapter is also grateful for donors such as Gaylin Ziegler, a Worthington-area native now retired in California, who has presented over $6,000 in funds to the program in the past few years.
Since the chapter’s reorganization in 1998, nearly $300,000 in scholarship funds has been distributed to about 450 local graduates.
“These scholarships can be very meaningful and make a big difference in the lives of some of the student recipients,” stated Louise Wickstrom, Dollars for Scholars’ board secretary. “It’s so valuable for the students to hear from past recipients and donors like Mike Patrick and Matt Entenza, who have overcome many obstacles and are now successful, but still find it important to give back.”
Habicht, whose distinguished 40-year teaching career was largely spent in District 518, enjoyed the chance to witness the awards ceremony and see the potential in students advancing to post-secondary education.
“This is kind of passing it on, paying it forward,” Habicht said. “As a retired teacher, you don’t lose your love of helping students, and my mom just loved children, too. My mother would want nothing more than to have her name associated with something that would help another young adult to accomplish their goals and dreams.”
WHS students receiving 2012 awards from the Worthington Dollars for Scholars chapter include Aric Ablog, Emily Anderson, Claire Bents, Brianna Darling, Haley Gravenhof, Mariah Haffield, Taylor Heidebrink, Lucas Henning, Megan Juber, Heather Loy, Jacqueline Martin, Hannah Mick, Tuyen Nguyen, Jonah Oberloh, Erin Peterson, Whitney Prins, Tanner Rogers, Matthew Sorensen, Rachel Sternke, Anna Tims, Kami Vogt, Mandi Vote, Travis Vuong and Jennifer Walker.
For more information about the June 25 Dollars for Scholars golf tournament, contact Dick Schlichte at 376-3337 or schlicht@iw.net. For information about volunteering with or donating to the Worthington Dollars for Scholars chapter, contact Chuck Moore (372-2610) or Marilyn McDowell (372-5247).
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