Alumni “Pay It Forward” With Scholarship Fundraising

Alumni, such as those at East High, play a big role in raising scholarship funds for DMPS students.

May – it means permission; the ability to do something. On the calendar it’s the traditional month of commencement and blossoms. In the dictionary next to May it says, “the early vigorous blooming part of human life: PRIME…”

High school seniors all across the country are about to reap what they’ve been sowing for the last dozen+ years. And here in DMPS old grads are keeping up traditions of paying forward what they received in years past at their dear old prep alma maters.

Last night was North High’s annual Dollars for Scholars banquet. $70,000 worth of scholarships was awarded to 39 members of the Class of 2014 through the combined efforts of the school’s alumni foundation and their local chapter of DFS.

At Class Night next week, otherwise known as Graduation Eve (May 23rd), the Lincoln Alumni Association, the Railsplitters’ DFS chapter and the school booster club will bestow awards in excess of $50,000.

The Roosevelt Foundation, which also recently spearheaded a multimillion dollar fundraising campaign to build additional fine arts facilities at the school, is doling out nearly $41,000 in scholarships this spring to 54 graduating seniors.

And on May 8th, the East High Alumni Association, maybe the loudest and proudest of ‘em all, convened for the group’s 137th annual banquet and again fulfilled its blank promise to the future generations of Scarlets, this time to the tune of $129,000 spread amongst 99 soon-to-be alums.

At Hoover the investment in the future has been focused of late on establishment of the school’s STEM Academy, achievement of certification as an International Baccalaureate World School and rocketing up the ranks of Iowa high schools on the state’s AP Index. Still, this year’s seniors have drawn scholarship offers of nearly $1.9 million externally, a hefty sum that will be rolled into the grand total for the district’s entire Class of ’14 from all sources. We’ll compile and disclose that impressive number after the dust and tossed graduation caps settle. For now let’s just say congratulations to the graduates-in-waiting and thank you to the ranks of their predecessors who haven’t forgotten where they came from.