St. Jude's offers scholarships through Gianforte donation

Havre's private Catholic school has some extra help for local students, thanks to a multi-million dollar donation by a Bozeman businessman.

Michale Beck, secretary at St. Jude Thaddeus School, said this morning that the school is accepting applications for scholarships through the Colorado-based ACE Scholarships.

"ACE Scholarships is moving into Montana, and we're going to get some of this money, " she said.

Greg Gianforte, founder and CEO of RightNow Technologies, a computer software company in Bozeman, and his wife, Susan, made a $4.6 million donation through their family foundation to ACE Scholarships, the Colorado company founded in 2000 which provides scholarships to private schools. This will allow the program to expand to Montana.

"Susan and I are delighted to commit these funds to give more children in Montana access to private schools that would otherwise be financially out of reach, " Gianforte said in a press release announcing the donation and ACE expanding into Montana.

Beck said St. Jude's will be accepting applications through Friday, May 4, for the scholarships, and people can come to the school or call her at 265-4613 for more information or to request an application packet.

She said St. Jude's is one of 35 private schools in Montana that will receive part of the 330 scholarships being offered in the state.

Susan Gianforte said she and her husband believe the ACE Scholarships program could quickly make a differece in providing more educational choice in Montana.

"We chose to support ACE because the organization has a proven model of success that can be quickly and effectively replicated in Montana, " she said. "By supporting an existing program with more than a decade of program and operational experience, we will have an immediate impact in the lives of children in our state. "

For more information about the program, people can visit http://www.acescholarships.org online.