Iowa Town Awards $200K in Scholarships to Graduates

Webster City High School seniors walked away with nearly $200,000 in scholarship money this spring, but one award worth $2,000 stood out for its powerful message about generosity.

Summer Anderson English presented the Anderson Family scholarship to graduate Jay Wiese during the Senior Awards program in May. The scholarship started with a Thanksgiving tradition that her grandparents, Wayne and Marlene Anderson, began years ago.

Each Thanksgiving, Wayne and Marlene gave money to their grandchildren with one requirement: report back at Christmas about how they spent it. "We were told to pay it forward," English explained.

English and her brother Jordan started pooling their Thanksgiving gifts to create a scholarship fund in 2012. They let it grow for 10 years before awarding the first scholarship, and even visited a second-grade class to teach kids about financial literacy and tell them about the opportunity waiting for them as seniors.

The Anderson scholarship joined an impressive collection of awards distributed to Webster City graduates this year. Thirty students received Iowa Central scholarships totaling over $20,000, while Cessna awards added another $31,500 to the total.

The Cessna program has recognized academic excellence since 1975. This year, twelve students received departmental awards of $275 each in subjects ranging from agricultural sciences to Spanish. Twenty students with grade point averages of 3.75 or higher earned $600 scholarships, while 24 more students with GPAs between 3.4 and 3.749 received $400 each.

Even graduates from previous years can apply for Cessna scholarships for up to four years, with no time limit on when those four years are used. A 2015 graduate just starting college now could still receive funding assistance.

Why This Inspires

English believes many students don't realize how valuable these scholarships are in fighting mounting education costs. Her family's tradition shows how small acts of generosity can compound over time into meaningful support for the next generation. Each family member who received money from Wayne and Marlene found their own charities to support, creating a lasting culture of giving.

At the awards ceremony, English urged all the graduating seniors to continue the tradition her grandparents started decades ago: pay it forward.