?Sponsor-a-Student' provides a Catholic education

Photos courtesy of Joanna Wheelton

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The Madeleine Choir School second and third grade students prepare for their annual Grandparents' Day program. The Madeleine Choir School is a pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school.

by Joanna Wheelton

Advancement Director, Madeleine Choir School

SALT LAKE CITY — For over a year, an ad hoc committee of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City has been investigating new sources of revenue for the Utah Catholic schools. This past month, the committee finalized its new Sponsor-a-Student program. In announcing the program, Holy Cross Sister Catherine Kamphaus, superintendent of Catholic Schools, said, "This is an opportunity for all Catholics to share in the education of young people in our diocese."

Christina Vierra-McGill, principal of The Madeleine Choir School, agrees. "A Catholic education provides a child with the moral, emotional, and intellectual framework upon which to build a productive life. Unfortunately, not every family can afford to give their child a Catholic education, despite their desire to do so.

While most Catholic schools in Utah have their own scholarship programs and solicit funds to support those programs, Sponsor-a-Student enables individuals in parishes without schools to help provide children in Utah with the blessing of a Catholic education." Vierra continues, "As a product of the Catholic school system here, I can attest that there may be no better gift or investment to make. This program provides those of us who attended Catholic schools with an opportunity to give something back to the system we benefited from as students."

The program is relatively simple. Sponsorships are available at four levels:

Patron – One full-year high school scholarship $7,500.

Benefactor – One full-year elementary school scholarship $5,000.

Guardian Angel – One half-year elementary school scholarship $2,500.

Sponsor – Give at a level that matches your ability.

While donors cannot designate a specific student to receive a scholarship, they may designate a school to which they would like their scholarship forwarded. However, the Utah Catholic Schools Office believes they are best able to determine where the scholarship funds are most needed, so they urge donors to make an undesignated gift.

Holy Cross Sister Genevra Rolf, associate superintendent of Catholic Schools, adds "The Catholics of Utah are mainly along the Wasatch Front at this time in our history so that is where the Catholic schools are located. However, we believe that there are many Catholics in the diocese who would support the work of the Catholic schools and would love to participate in their mission if they only had the opportunity. Sponsor-a-Student will provide a forum for these Catholic school supporters to respond to the plea of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to keep Catholic schools accessible, available, and affordable."

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), "Education is one of the most important ways by which the Church fulfills its commitment to the dignity of the person and building of community… For the education of the individual Christian, it is important not only to his solitary destiny, but also to the destinies of the many communities in which he or she lives."

While the Utah Catholic schools work diligently to keep tuition as low as possible, there simply are not enough scholarship dollars to meet the needs of every family who desires a Catholic education for their children.

Sr. Catherine believes that while it may not be possible to provide a Catholic education to every child, a gift to the Utah Catholic Schools Sponsor-a-Student Program will change the life of a child in a fundamental way. "The anonymous child who receives the scholarship will have the opportunity to experience a Catholic school education – learning in a community of children and adults who follow Jesus Christ."

Gifts of Cash, Check or Credit Card can be made to the Utah Catholic School Sponsor-A-Student Program, Utah Catholic Schools, 27 C Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103.

For more information, please call the Utah Catholic Schools Office at 801-328-8641.