Programs to benefit new students of Hispanic and military families

HIGHWOOD, Ill. (July 15, 2003)

Beginning this fall, St. James Elementary School, 140 North Ave., will offer two new need-based scholarship programs for the 2003-2004 school year. The new scholarships will be incentives for military families of Great Lakes Naval Base and Hispanic families in the community to provide their children with a private, Catholic education, according to Mary Kay Tschanz, principal. Funding for 30 scholarships has been donated to St. James from several Catholic-interest charitable organizations.

Half of the scholarships will help military families; the other half will help Hispanic students enrolled at the school for the first time. The Hispanic scholarship program was named the San Juan Diego Scholarship program, in honor of the recently canonized patron saint of Mexico.

For both scholarship programs, the first child of each family to enroll will receive a $1,000 deduction from the current tuition cost of $2,750. Each additional child’s tuition per family will cost $500 – half the cost of current additional child fees ($1,000).
St. James is also exploring plans to make transportation easier for students to and from the naval base.

“St. James has a long history of service to the Great Lakes and Fort Sheridan military communities. We’re very pleased these funds will enable us to serve even more military families in the coming school year,” said Tschanz.

“Currently, all of our students’ families pay only a fraction of the $4,000 cost to educate each student because St. James Parish has always provided very generous support to our school. But we’re extremely happy to be able to better serve the surrounding Hispanic community, many of whom are St. James parishioners.”

St. James Elementary School is a small school with opportunities for individual attention and a pleasant family atmosphere, according to Tschanz. Student test scores are competitive with many prestigious private and public schools in the Chicago-metro area. More information about St. James Elementary School can be found by visiting the Website at www.stjamesschoolhwd.org.
Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools
The Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Chicago play a critical role in the life of the community by providing academic excellence and faith formation for 117,229 students of many races, faiths and backgrounds in the 290 elementary and secondary schools in Cook and Lake counties. There are more than 6,400 teachers in the Catholic school system who instill values, teach discipline and achieve strong, consistent academic results in the Archdiocese of Chicago's 248 elementary and 42 secondary schools. Visit the Archdiocese of Chicago Website at http://schools.archchicago.org

For more information about military family scholarships, please call Mary Kay Tschanz at 847-432-2277. For further information on San Juan Diego Scholarships, please contact Rev. Tim O’Malley at 847-433-1494.