Oct. 23, 2002 – The St. John community has raised more than $22,000 toward a scholarship fund for St. John students attending Antilles School. More than 50 young people wake up extra early each day to travel to St. Thomas to attend the private school.
St. John parents decided to establish a permanently endowed scholarship that would benefit students from St. John, and said the successful result would not have been possible without the support of Starwood Vacation Ownership Inc., the Westin St. John Resort Villas and its director of operations, Greg Gray.
Spearheaded by Dale Miller, Bill Jerome, Winston Bennett and Jan Courlas, the St. John-Antilles School Parents Association and other friends of the school organized a raffle, selling the chance to own a "beautiful piece of St. John," in the form of a three-bedroom luxury pool villa, for one week of the year, every year.
Retailers helped spread the word and Antilles students from St. John wrote letters to residents asking for support. The end result was the sale of hundreds of raffle tickets.
Additionally, the winner gave back the prize, so the funds raised did not have to be lessened by paying for the villa.
With the raffle proceeds, the St. John Scholarship Fund at Antilles School has grown to $80,000. When the $100,000 goal is reached, the scholarship will become permanently endowed.
Like others attending Antilles, more than half of the St. John students receive scholarship assistance that makes it possible.
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