Note from Rev. Kyle Barton & Rev. Megan Preston
On Behalf of the Class of 2017
In 2017, as we approached graduation, our class was very aware of the changing landscape of theological education and the financial burden students and families were bearing. A few of us were sitting around the dinner table at the Bartons’ Denver Court home and we sort of stumbled on the idea of creating a scholarship fund. We thought maybe our class gift could show our investment in the healthy future of Wartburg, seminary education, and trained theologians. We also wanted to show our gratitude for the many ways we had been supported through our time in seminary and pay that forward to students we trusted would follow us.
We thought our class gift could show our investment in the healthy future of Wartburg!
Kyle spoke with the Development Team and got the process rolling. We got our class jazzed about the idea, and before we left campus we had about $7,500 cash capital raised through initial gifts from class contributions, our home congregations, internship congregations, and other sources. Then, we pledged 1% of our salaries for a minimum of three years to the fund. We needed to get to a principal amount of $25K in order for the scholarship to be endowed. Our goal was to make that happen by our 3 year reunion. Unfortunately, our reunion was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures, but we were still committed to achieving our goal.
We’re all very excited we achieved our goal and many plan to continue contributing.
