Jamestown Dollars for Scholars awards record 65 scholarships, $67,500

A record 65 Jamestown High School seniors will head to college or career training with help from Jamestown Dollars for Scholars, which handed out $67,500 in awards and made sure every student who applied and matched received scholarship money.

The awards were announced at the Jamestown High School awards ceremony May 6, giving families in Stutsman County a direct cut in the cost of postsecondary education. Eight of the scholarships were new this year, a sign that the donor pool behind the program is still expanding instead of leveling off. The total topped last year’s previous high of 55 scholarships.

Three scholarship funds were endowed over the past year, creating perpetual awards that will keep paying out for years to come. Among them are the James Myers Career and Technology Center Scholarships, which will provide three $1,000 awards each year. Other endowed funds were created by friends of Larry Knoblich for a University of Jamestown student and by donors honoring RM Stoudt and Robert Merrick.

The roster of awards also reflects how deeply Jamestown’s businesses and families are tied to the program. Recent scholarship additions have been linked to RM Stoudt, Inc., Crossroads Repair LLC, Hofmann Trucking LLC, Scherbenske Inc., The Medicine Shoppe, Dr. Dawn’s Pet Stop and the Tom Gould Scholarship, extending the support network beyond a single annual ceremony and into the local economy that graduates are expected to join.

Jamestown Dollars for Scholars describes itself as a locally operated nonprofit that awards funds to Jamestown High School graduates to encourage postsecondary education. The chapter operates under the Jamestown Public School Foundation, formed in 1981 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and led by a volunteer board separate from the school district. Its stated goal is to give a $1,000 scholarship to every graduating senior who plans to continue education, and its application window runs from December 1 to March 1, with North Dakota Dollars for Scholars matching scholarships from January 1 to April 1.

The growth has been steady. The chapter reported 56 scholarships totaling $58,500 in 2025, 51 totaling $53,500 in 2024, 46 totaling $45,600 in 2023 and 20 scholarships totaling $18,650 in 2015. Scholarship America says its Dollars for Scholars network has now awarded $2.5 billion to nearly 2 million students since the organization began 50 years ago. For Jamestown, the local version of that effort is not just about honoring seniors. It is about lowering debt, keeping more students on a path to degrees and credentials, and strengthening the county’s future workforce.