St. Paul businessman sees big return on helping kids go to college
When John Tillotson handed a scholarship check to a high school senior named Damien 11 years ago, he asked the student if he was excited about studying biology at Northwestern University in Illinois. Damien responded that he was really looking forward to having his own bed for the first time in 10 years.
“When I learned that, it was like, this is something really different that I want to work on,” said Tillotson, a St. Paul financial advisor who as a member of the St. Paul Optimist Club has helped challenged kids get scholarships for almost 15 years.
2008 recipients of Optimist Club scholarships
“These kids have great backgrounds of academics, community service — they are just generally all-around good kids — but they have had to face some kind of hardship, whether it’s economic or disability or family issues,” said Tillotson. He helped establish the Optimist Club’s St. Paul Friend of Youth Foundation, that since 1997 has awarded local youth more than $170,000 in post-secondary scholarships.
Through his initiative, the club increased its scholarships from one $500 award annually to 15 scholarships of $1,500. Besides offering scholarships, it serves area youth through a variety of programs.
Helping youth has been important to the Fargo native since he moved to St. Paul after college. “It’s helped me self-actualize as an adult,” he said. “I didn’t do it because it was business related. It was just something from my background. It’s helped me grow as an individual as I met all sorts of fascinating teachers, counselors, coaches and then — the kids.”
Tillotson is inspired by students like a young woman planning to study nursing after caring for her mother as she died of AIDS. “That process was so deep for her of how much she gave to her mom — she just wants to do that for other people,” he said. “She’s the quintessential optimist to go through something like that and say, ‘how can I make use of this?’”
Tillotson’s passion for helping kids draws potential club members and other donors with whom he often meets one-on-one. Donors like kids, believe in education and are results-driven, he said, noting that a recent study found that Optimist Club scholarship recipients appear twice as likely to finish college within five years than students overall.
Even small scholarships matter, he said. “It’s not that large of an investment if you’re running a business. But for a kid, any amount of money really means a lot. It also means a lot to them that the community is saying, ‘I want to help you.’”
Serving students like Damien benefits everyone, Tillotson said. “It really inspires a lot of hope for these kids; not only do they get hope for themselves from the program but they start telling other students that it’s possible.”
Find out more about St. Paul Optimist Club scholarships. Other local organizations that help challenged students go to college include the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Page Education Foundation, the Children’s Defense Fund and the Wallin Scholarship Foundation.
