Superintendent Ferner introduced representatives of the Arrowhead Scholarship Fund at the school board meeting, saying the group has been “doing awesome things for our kids.” Pat Knoll and Abby Holland described the fund’s history, structure and recent growth.

The Arrowhead Scholarship Fund, founded in 1958 and organized as a 501(c)(3), has awarded more than 3,600 scholarships since its founding, Knoll said. This year the group awarded 106 scholarships totaling $112,500, and board volunteers said they operate without compensation.

Holland said the fund uses a mix of endowed funds held at the Waukesha County Community Foundation and annual fundraising to generate awards. “So the funds never decline. They just keep growing, and that’s where we get our scholarship money,” she said. Holland described seven endowed funds created in part by former teachers and community members and said the fund has broadened its outreach to local groups that now provide pass-through scholarships.

Knoll and Holland told the board that the scholarship program has grown from 26 pass-through scholarship organizations in 2015, totaling about $29,000, to 46 organizations this year providing roughly $79,500 in pass-through scholarships. Holland highlighted newly established awards this year from Aurora Healthcare, the Emil Ewald Family Foundation, Heartland Overhead Door and a $3,000 scholarship from the Remanufacturing Industries Council given in Mike Schmidt’s name.

Board members asked about application volume and recipient follow-up. Holland said the fund receives about 130–150 student applications annually and that the graduating class this year was about 485 students; she noted that not every student applies. The fund’s awards are one-year scholarships that recipients may redeem over two years, she said, and she encouraged technical-college applicants to apply because community donors prioritize trade and technical scholarships.

Knoll explained the review process: applications are opened in December, closed in early February, and evaluated with a rubric that considers academics, ACT scores, volunteer hours, extracurricular involvement and work hours. He said the rubric is intended to make awards consistent and defensible.

Board members thanked the volunteers and noted the scholarship fund’s role in supporting students across academic and technical paths.