Dolores Sande Endowed Elementary Education Teaching Scholarship

In 2013, the Dolores Sande Endowed Elementary Education Teaching Scholarship was established in the Winona State University Foundation. The scholarship will benefit non-traditional students who are returning to school to be elementary education teachers.

Criteria
a.an undergraduate student enrolled full-time and in good standing at Winona State University (minimum of 12 credits per semester, fall and spring);
b.a declared Elementary Education major;
c.a sophomore, junior, senior or 5th year student;
d.and maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0.

Preference will be given to a non-traditional returning student.

Background and Motivation
Nels Minne was the ninth president of Winona State University when Dolores Sande decided to attend college after graduating from high school twenty years earlier.
“I wanted to become a teacher more than anything I have ever set out to do. I frequently played ‘school teacher’ as a child, my favorite childhood past time. My heart has been set on this idea for a very long time. I enrolled in the Lutheran Bible Institute following high school to be trained on doing parish and ministry work. While I loved my work in youth ministry and parish administration, it became more apparent to me than ever that I had to realize my dream of being a teacher. Winona State University made my dream come true”.

Following two years at Luther College which became too expensive to continue, and commuting from Rushford to WSU while residing at home on the farm to save money for the tuition, Dolores car pooled with three others who were also enrolled at WSU at the time. When thinking back, Dolores smiles upon herself in how weather could play havoc with their driving and if it was her turn during a winter storm she would trade her turn with one of the others in the car for that day. As the oldest of six children, five girls and one boy, Dolores took on child care responsibilities as young as eleven years old. Tragically her brother died at the age of six years old, which broke everyone’s heart, especially her mother and father, leaving them with five daughters to raise.
Never married, Dolores turned her life’s priorities to teaching, leading a third grade classroom in the Rochester Minnesota School District for over twenty-six years. Her extended family includes fourteen nieces and nephews, thirty-five great nieces and nephews, and four great great nieces and nephews and as Dolores puts it, “another one on the way”. Her teaching colleagues became her friends, many of whom remain in Rochester as retired teachers today.
Why did I want to create this endowed scholarship she asks of herself. The answer is simple: I want to help another generation of teachers realize their dream, especially those who decide to return to school after having been in the work force for several years. If I am able to motivate another to become a quality teacher, what better way to influence our upcoming generations of students in shaping their future lives.
This is why I want to give back to the teaching profession. It warms my heart to think I am able to help another realize their dream.