ST. SCHOLASTICA STUDENT
AWARDED PHILLIPS SCHOLARSHIP

APRIL 19, 2005 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: BOB ASHENMACHER (218) 723-60755

DULUTH, MN – Stacy Rauenhorst of Wells, MN, a sophomore majoring in occupational therapy at The College of St. Scholastica, has been awarded a scholarship from the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation.

The award is one of six $14,000 scholarships presented to students attending Minnesota’s private colleges and universities.  St. Scholastica students have won the prestigious scholarship eight out of eleven times since its inception in the mid-1990s.  The awards recognize the students’ dedication to community service, and are given to potential leaders with outstanding academic credentials.

Rauenhorst has been active in the community, serving as a site coordinator and volunteer at the Arrowhead Juvenile Detention Center in Duluth.  In this position she has recruited and organized a group of St. Scholastica students to work with the youth residing at the Center.  She also volunteers at Polinsky Rehabilitation Center in Duluth, assisting a registered occupational therapist in treating children with disabilities.  In addition she volunteers at Westwood Assisted Living Center in Duluth, where she helps a resident with personal and housekeeping needs.

Rauenhorst has applied for participation in an InterVarsity mission project in June at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota where she will work with Lakota families and children.  Upon her return she will be employed as a counselor at Camp Friendship Ventures in Eden Prairie, MN, where she will work with individuals with a wide variety of disabilities.  For the past three summers she has worked as an occupational therapy student aide/intern with United Hospital District in Blue Earth, MN.  She also served as a personal care attendant for a 15-year-old young man with cerebral palsy.

Each Phillips Scholar receives support to create a self-directed, leadership-oriented project that is implemented during the summer following the student’s junior year.  Rauenhorst’s project will provide training for able-bodied teenagers on how to understand and interact with their disabled peers.  The peer mentoring program will provide opportunities for these young people to participate in social and volunteer activities in pairs or as a group.  The project’s goal is to not only promote new friendships, but also to deepen the empathy for and acceptance of individuals with disabilities.

The Phillips Family Foundation continues Jay and Rose Phillips’ commitments to making life better for those who suffer, by supporting efforts to improve the quality of health care, expand access to quality education for all people, and improve the lives of people who daily face the challenges of disabilities and discrimination.  Phillips Scholarship projects exemplify new thinking about community needs and are selected based on their innovation and potential for creating long-term solutions to community problems.

The Minnesota Private College Fund administers the Phillips Scholarships and
provides mentorship support to the scholars as they implement their projects.  St. Scholastica is one of 17 private college and university members of the Minnesota Private College Council, Fund and Research Foundation.

The College of St. Scholastica is regularly recognized as one of the finest colleges of the Midwest. The 2005 “America's Best Colleges” survey by U.S. News & World Report magazine ranks St. Scholastica in the top tier of Midwestern universities.  The Washington Post has rated St. Scholastica as one of the nation’s 100 “hidden gems” among U.S. colleges and universities.