Staff to bike for students

ST. IGNATIUS — With the goal of sending more Mission students to post-secondary education, St. Ignatius Schools Superintendent Gerry Nolan, along with other staff and members of the community, have founded the Mission Scholarship Foundation.

“We began planning this back in August,” Nolan said. “I approached some people about this idea and got really positive feedback.

“MSF hasn’t been announced until recently because we wanted to ensure we were a legal, registered non-profit.”

According to an informational flyer created by the MSF board of trustees, Mission students score well above state and national averages on the ACT and have a 93 percent graduation rate above the state average 87.2 percent and the national average of 67 percent.

The trustees said that despite good academics, “the biggest limiting factor that prevent more of our graduates attending college is socio-economics.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in St. Ignatius was $25,682 in 2007 while the national median was $50,740. And 21 percent of households in St. Ignatius have incomes less than $10,000.

“We want to raise enough money to create an endowment,” Nolan said. “And award scholarships from the interest the endowment accrues.”

As the board of trustees begins the initial stages of fundraising, Nolan said that the foundation is looking for one time gifts.

“We’re not going to be coming back year after year,” he said.

Among the larger fundraising plans the foundation has, Nolan — along with Mission High School teacher Tim Marchant, Katie Nolan and Mary Elmstrand, students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire — is planning a 3,500-mile bike trip next summer from Anacortes, Wash. to Bar Harbor, Maine.

Each of the riders is seeking a “per-mile” donation, Nolan said.

In addition to the coast-to-coast bike ride, the foundation is in the beginning stages of planning other fundraising events, Nolan said.

“The outpouring of support from the community so far has been really encouraging,” he said. “We’re looking forward to continuing to work for our students.”