Scholars and Dollars

After 14 years, 85 students and more than $775,000 in scholarships, the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation Scholarship Program is fulfilling a lifelong dream of its founder, Lloyd K. Johnson, to help Cook County High School students achieve their educational dreams. The program is unique in its personal one-to-one guidance, emphasis on students who are first generation college attendees, and its specially designed financial literacy class. A critical aspect of the program is to impart adult life skills and prepare students for success, many of whom are away from home for the first time.

When it comes to personal finance, people often say, “I wish I had learned that when I was younger”. The Foundation hopes its scholarship recipients won’t have as many of those regrets. By taking the Foundation’s required Financial Literacy course, the scariest parts of adult life can be minimized so students can focus more on education and creating the best campus life experiences they can.

Scholarship recipients are selected in May and take the course before their first semester of college. This year, for the first time, the students and presenters met in person in Grand Marais, following two years of zoom course, due to COVID. Scholarship Program Coordinator, Rachel Forsyth, invited community members from banks, businesses, and Cook County Higher Education to teach portions of the Financial Literacy course. “We were thrilled to meet in person this year. While our course aims to teach foundational concepts in personal finance, budgeting, renting, and more; the ability to form relationships with students early-on, and to partner with community members, is equally as important to us.”

Each presenter shared their expertise on tenant and landlord rights, opening a bank account, and managing money and credit cards. One presenter from Grand Marais State Bank, Lea Leonard, was among the original cohort of Foundation scholarship recipients more than a decade ago and returned to share her knowledge. “The Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation scholarship is such an amazing opportunity for Cook County graduates! If I hadn’t received the scholarship in 2008, I’m not sure that I would have gone to college after high school, since I didn’t really have an idea of what I wanted to do. The Foundation gave me the opportunity to explore different areas of studies at LSC; adding the option to go to Fond Du Lac Tribal & Community College [and MN North Community College in 2023], is an extraordinary addition to the program. It was a pleasure to give some insight to the newest recipients, and to learn how the scholarship has evolved since the beginning.”

As students listened and learned about managing finances, they heard about budgeting, paying bills, and savings from Sarena Nelson with Cascade Vacation Rentals. Sarena wanted students to understand that “saving and budgeting money can be easy. It is nailing down a practice that works best for you and sticking to it that is the challenging part. So test the waters, find the practice that suits your needs, and be disciplined to follow through each time you are paid. Having a money goal makes it even easier to save and budget because in the end, the reward will be that much more satisfying knowing that you set a goal and crushed it.”

Students walked away with a wealth of information, lifelong skills, several business cards, and a little more confident. The core messages from each presenter assured the students that their community supports them and is ready to help if they need anything. As students start college this fall, the Foundation feels confident that Mr. Johnson would be proud of each student; what they have achieved to get to this point; and that no student will walk this path alone. For more information about the Lloyd K. Johnson Scholarship Program, visit: www.lloydkjohnsonfoundation.org/scholarships/ .

About: Mr. Lloyd K. Johnson was born and raised in Grand Marais and Cook County. After graduating from high school and leaving for a stint to attend law school, he returned to work as the County Attorney. His affinity for Grand Marais and Cook County is evidenced by the Johnson Heritage Post which was established in honor of Lloyd’s mother and her love for art; the Cook County student scholarship program; and the framework for the Foundation which was originally established by Mr. Johnson and his wife Marion in 1975. Though both have since passed, the Johnson family home still stands today and is known as the Birch Terrace Restaurant.