St. Paul awards scholarships

St. Paul Lutheran School recently awarded nearly $63,000 from the Craig Thomas Scholarship Fund to families in the surrounding community.

The money was donated during the school's largest fundraising event ... the Annual Benefit Dinner and Auction.

Every child who attends St. Paul Lutheran School receives a contribution toward their tuition from St. Paul Lutheran Church, which views the school as its mission to the community. The amount of the contribution varies depending on whether the family are church members or not. Part of the contribution comes from endowment funds left to the church by members over the years.

Former St. Paul Principal Duane Giesselmann commented, "Several years ago, we decided it would be a good idea to set aside a scholarship fund for families who are not members of St. Paul Lutheran Church, but were interested in having their children receive a Christian education. It was named the Craig Thomas Scholarship Fund in honor of a former student who, during his battle with ALS, gave unselfishly of his time and talents to his community.

"We use a third-party service, FACTS, to assess the financial needs of our families and then assign scholarships to those families in proportion with their need. This year, we were able to award scholarships to 41 students. St. Paul appreciates the fact that sending your child to private school can be a financial challenge for some people, but we want any family who desires to send their child to a technologically advanced and caring, Christian education environment to be able to do so."

He said the Annual Benefit Dinner and Auction is the result of a lot of hard work by school families and the community that supports them.

"It's only right that in addition to purchasing new technology, funding specialty teachers, and upgrading our facilities, the auction also be able to give back to those who make it all possible," he said.  

St. Paul Lutheran School currently has about 300 students enrolled and offers grades preschool through 8th.

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