Addressing the Need for Scholarships

North Idaho College retiree Rolly Jurgens and his wife, Jeannie, believe education is the key to opening doors to help individuals support themselves and their families.

Rolly and Jeannie met at college in Sioux City, Iowa, and were married in 1968. The couple moved to Idaho in 1984. Rolly served as dean of administration at North Idaho College until he retired in 2010. Jeannie taught middle school in Coeur d’Alene for 15 years before retiring.

Rolly fondly recalls the days when there was no email and internet at NIC, and the faculty did not have desk phones. His colleagues were bringing NIC into the age of technology, and Rolly found funding for the project. He remembers using his first electronic spreadsheet and putting away his 13-column pad.

Through the years, Rolly and Jeannie felt empathy for struggling students who did not have enough money to continue their education. Rolly remembers working with a single mother who was out of options. He reached out to the NIC Foundation to find a scholarship to help her.

“Jeannie and I were both in education and we wanted to do our part,” says Rolly. The couple went on to establish the Rolly and Jeannie Jurgens Scholarship endowment through the North Idaho College Foundation to assist students in perpetuity.

Rolly and Jeannie have joined an honorable circle of supporters as members of the NIC Foundation’s Legacy Society. “There is no reason not to continue our support after our lifetime,” they say. “The need will still be there.”

Membership in the Legacy Society is as simple as designating the North Idaho College Foundation as a beneficiary of your will, trust, life insurance or retirement account. Contact Rayelle Anderson, Executive Director, at (208) 769-5978 or foundation@nicfoundation.org to learn more about ways to give.