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Press Release – For Immediate Release

NEW DAKOTA STATE SCHOLARSHIP

FOR MADISON HIGH ANNOUNCED

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Dakota State Reaches New Level

Of Scholarship Awards

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(Madison, SD) A new scholarship, offering as much as four years of significant support for Madison High School students, has just been established at Dakota State University, according to Marty Gallanter, Director of the DSU Foundation. Known as the Thomas & Crane Memorial Scholarship, the program will provide 50% support for tuition fees and books each semester for the full four years of a student’s attendance at Dakota State. Current plans for call for the program to begin with three students in the 1998/99 academic year. It is anticipated that additional students will be added in future years.

"To start the program off with some extra energy, the donors have decided that one student will receive 100% in his or her first year and then 50% support for the succeeding years," said Gallanter.

The scholarship is supported by Roy (LeRoy) and Janet Thomas of Paoli, PA. Mr. Thomas is a 1969 graduate of the then General Beadle State College. The program is named in memory of Mr. & Mrs. Thomas’ father, both of whom were custodians at the University. Joseph Thomas, Roy’s father, worked for the school for most of a quarter of century, beginning in the 1950s and retiring in the 1970s. Janet’s father, Judson Crane, joined the University staff in the late 1970s, after thirty years of self-employment and worked until his retirement.

"Roy Thomas told me how he and his wife grew up in working class homes and were urged by their parents to seek higher education," continued Gallanter. "Their parents could not afford to send them away to school, so they lived at home and attended college in Madison. Mr. & Mrs. Thomas want their scholarship to benefit this same profile of student, youngsters whose families cannot afford expensive schools and who may have had to work part-time all through high school."

Gallanter explained that the Thomases chose to support students at a fifty- percent basis after consulting with financial aid people at DSU. Students who show financial need can still qualify for federal PELL grants in amounts that will probably cover the remaining balance of their tuition, fees and books. Supporting one student at 100%, an option that was considered, would allow the youngsters to take advantage of the PELL grant opportunity. Any student accepted in the program would receive the 50% support for their full four years providing they maintain an acceptable academic level and carry at least 12 credits per semester. A joint Madison High/DSU committee will choose participants. Students may apply at the Madison High Guidance office.

Roy Thomas is a vice-president of ENSONIQ, a high-tech firm designing, manufacturing and marketing innovative sound products based on chip technology. The company introduced this technology into music industry products, effectively reducing the cost of electronic instruments making them available to a much wider market. Their products are sold through a select group of musical instrument retailers in the USA, international distributors, and a direct sales office in Japan.

The Thomas & Crane Memorial Scholarship has also helped Dakota State University reach a new level of scholarship distribution. According to Gallanter, the University will award more than $400,000 in student scholarships for the 1998/99 academic year.

"The Thomas family brought us over the mark, helping DSU to set a new record for scholarships," said Gallanter, "but we are also receiving wonderful support from the community, our alumni and the businesses who recruit among our graduates. Four hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money for an institution of our size, but it only begins to touch the need out there. Many families of limited means want to send their children to college. People like the Thomases are making that a little more possible each year."

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