Seniors in this small Minnesota town all get scholarships thanks to a community program

A tiny town in the middle of Minnesota is punching above its weight in fundraising scholarships for high school seniors.

Swanville, with a population of just over 300 people, distributed more than $100,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors pursuing college or technical school this year alone.

Since the Swanville Dollars for Scholars program’s inception in 1987, the group has awarded more than $1 million, KARE 11 first reported.

Swanville High School valedictorian Lily Peterson said the $8,000 scholarship she received will allow her to pursue a degree in elementary education at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.

“It’s really important to me because it gave me more freedom to choose what college I wanted to go to,” she said. “The price was never really an issue because I had that extra money to lean on.”

Teresa Giese, president of the Dollars for Scholars board, said the awards have only increased since the program’s formation. When she first joined the board, the average award was around $1,400 per student. Now, that figure is closer to $5,100.

Giese enjoys awarding scholarships to students as they prepare for their next step.

“Because I’m the president, I get to award all of the scholarships,” she said. “So graduation, that’s definitely my favorite time of the year, it’s getting to award that for the students.”

The money comes from a variety of fundraising events and charitable gambling operations, as well as through a matching program, which allows individuals and businesses to donate $250, which the program matches to create a $500 award.

Around 10 individual and group donations contributed to Peterson’s award. That money represents the support of the Swanville community, Peterson said, which she’ll carry with her as she looks to the future.

“Swanville is always so supportive,” she said. “Every sports game or at any events, there’s so many people from the community there supporting you. I feel like this is just another way Swanville gets together to help out their students.”

Twenty-one out of Peterson’s class of 24 seniors were awarded scholarships.

Brittney Jordan, vice president of the board, said the program is a longstanding tradition in the community. She hopes to pay that legacy forward and see her son Theo, 3, one day get funding for his education.

“That’s a lot of us, parents,” she said. “We all have attended, and we started joining, and we do the best we can to keep it going.”