Wayzata HS Alum Pays It Forward

Four students at Wayzata high school are getting a big boost to their college education. It’s all thanks to a former teacher who wouldn’t have been able to go to college without the scholarship she got decades ago.

“The amount of that money, in 1964? $300,” says scholarship donor Mary Stire. “That paid for a full year at the University of Minnesota. And each quarter there was $10 left over to put toward books. So I got to thinking that someday I’d really like to pay that back”

So she did. Stire gave four Wayzata students five thousand dollars each in her need-based scholarship. One recipient says this scholarship put her over the top – her freshman year is paid for.

“It was amazing,” says recipient Vanessah Klaers. “I just kept thinking about how excited my family was gonna be to see it. And how far it was gonna take me in furthering my education.”

Vanessah says she hopes some day to pay it forward again so someone else can go to school.

Wayzata High School

Plymouth