St. Louis County approves $187,500 in Tom Rookavina scholarships, narrowly votes to set aside remaining mineral royalties for endowment

The St. Louis County Board on Monday approved $187,500 to fund mineral-royalty scholarships for 2026 and separately voted to direct any remaining mineral royalty funds into a restricted corpus-builder account that could seed a future endowment.

Deputy County Administrator Jim Gottschall framed the program’s history and purpose, telling the board the request before them was "to approve disbursement of $187,500 to fund mineral royalty scholarships in 2026." He noted the scholarship program has distributed more than $1.2 million since 2017 and emphasized its ties to the county’s mining legacy.

Representatives from Minnesota North College, Lake Superior College and the Duluth Building and Construction Trades described how the money is used. Trent Janesich of Minnesota North College said the scholarships often cover technical-training programs and that the college typically gives out roughly 77–83 awards annually. "These scholarships are like gold for us at Minnesota North College," he said.…