by Dennis Dalman
After hearing about how residents and businesses in other cities have been raising hefty sums for student scholarships, Sartell High School math teacher Sarah Hensel decided the Sartell-St. Stephen area should start a “Dollars for Scholars” program.
And with the encouragement and help of others, that is just what she did. Hensel is president of the newly formed “Sartell-St. Stephen Dollars for Scholars” board.” Besides Hensel, the board is comprised of five other members: Stacy Anderson, Abby Leggatt, Alex Mastellar, Molly McCann and John Ross. Leggatt, Mastellar and Ross are Sartell High School graduates.
Hensel has taught math, mainly pre-calculus and calculus, at Sartell High School since 2007. She has long thought how good it would be if her excellent students could be given scholarships to help with their post-high-school educations.
That was one impetus for her wanting to start a new scholarship program. The other impetus was when she learned her nephew had graduated from Alexandria’s Jefferson High School and that that year’s graduates received a total amount of $300,000 in scholarships.
In comparison, scholarships to Sartell High School graduates received a total of $38,700 in scholarships in 2024. That amount was pretty much the same as in 2007, the year she started teaching.
Hensel reached out to others. They started a fundraising campaign in August and formed a board that met for the first time that month. The first Sartell-St. Stephen Dollars for Scholars scholarships, each of them $500, will be given on graduation awards night in 2026. Students may apply for those scholarships.
“We on the board came up with lots of good ideas together,” Hensel said. Students who receive scholarships from their home towns, she noted, get a big boost in confidence and morale that helps propel them toward success.
“Dollars for Scholars is such a great way to celebrate the achievements of our students and support their educational journey – be it to four-year, two-year or trade school,” Hensel said. “What makes it especially meaningful is the way it brings our community together, with local individuals, families and businesses joining in to invest in the future of our students. Many other schools have had scholarship programs like this for years, and they’ve made such a great impact on their students, so I am excited to bring it to ISD 748!”
Types of donations
Those who donate to the Sartell-St. Stephen Dollars for Scholars program can do so in memory of someone they loved and admired or in honor of a family or a business. For example, the group has already started a “Roger Trobec Memorial Scholarship” that is raising funds for endowment scholarships. Trobec, a life-long St. Stephen resident, was a beloved biology teacher and football coach for 33 years at Sartell High School, as well as a community activist. He died at age 74 on Dec. 8, 2020.
All dollars donated go directly as scholarships to students.
Donors can keep their scholarship open to all students (preferred), or they can choose the criteria that matter most to them, such as academic goals, financial need, field of study and so forth.
Any donation amount is very welcome – be it $10, $100 or more. A one-time scholarship of $500 can be used for one scholarship in the award year. An endowed scholarship can be implemented by a $12,500 donation, which will make possible a $500 scholarship to a future Sartell High School graduate each year.
People, businesses and organizations can donate in a variety of ways, and every donation is fully tax-deductible as Dollars for Scholars is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Ways to Donate
Online, click “Donate Now” on the following website: sartell-ststephen.dollarsforscholars.org
Donate via Paypal at the following link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=CKYYCY48CT9WU
Or checks can be sent to:
Sartell-St. Stephen Dollars for Scholars
18 Riverside Ave. S., Suite 220
Sartell, MN 56377
Another option is to donate to the scholarship’s “748 Club.” Funds donated in the amount of $748 or more will become part of an ongoing investment fund to provide for current and future scholarships. The “748” Club is named after Sartell-St. Stephen School District #748.
