For The Catholic Messenger
CLINTON — Throughout their 150 years of existence, the Sisters of St. Francis have held education as a prominent mission and objective. Part of their initial objective was education of area youth, which led to the establishment of Mount St. Clare Academy and its successors.
Various permanent scholarship funds were established over the years for the benefit of students at Mount St. Clare and later Ashford University. Funds were combined and a trust was created for the permanent management and administration of these scholarships.
With the closure of the Ashford University campus in Clinton in 2016 and under the terms of the trust, the pool of eligible scholarship recipients expanded to include any graduate or graduating senior of a high school located in Clinton County, Iowa, or Whiteside County, Illinois, attending or admitted to a two-year or four-year college or university located in Iowa. Preference is given to applicants attending Catholic post-secondary institutions or a community college in Clinton.
An independent selection committee selected the scholarship winners.
For 2016, 54 individual scholarships were awarded in an amount totaling $90,000. Recipients are graduates of Camanche, Clinton, DeWitt, Fulton, Morrison, Northeast, Prince of Peace, and Sterling high schools.
David Helscher of Clinton National Bank and Sister Anne Martin, OSF, president of the Sisters of St. Francis of Clinton, presented the scholarships recently to Stephanie Milder, Jessica Riojas, Alexander Volckmann, Erin Vander Bleek, Jon Schluns, Leah Schaefer, Maddison Grell, Rachelle Susie, Cassandra Goldbeck, Sophia Lindstrom, Mitchell Krogman, Jullian Bradour, Jacob Peasley, Nolan Bromley, Kaleb Church, Hunter Bielenberg and Quin Schnier.
Clinton National Bank, Trustee of the Mount St. Clare Charitable Scholarship Trust, manages and administers the trust and its individual scholarship funds. The perpetual trust intends to make annual scholarships available to graduates of eligible area high schools to further their education. A new scholarship application form will be available in January 2017 for the 2017 scholarship selection process and be available at area high school guidance offices and on the Clinton National Bank website.
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