By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News
Dwight Township High School was recently a recipient of a $10,000 donation, due to the goodwill of two former students.
About three years ago, Luke Arnold and Ryan Kodat saw a homeless man walking around Dwight during a blizzard. The boys game him extra clothes, a jacket and money for a train ticket to see his father in Springfield.
Dwight Township High School Superintendent Dr. Richard Janczek said Wade Herter never forgot the young men, and when his father passed away, leaving him $1.2 million, he wanted to return the favor.
School officials with the help of Herter have brainstormed as to what to do with the money and have come up with scholarship opportunities.
“Because of the nature of his story and involvement with our students and how this came to be, I pitched him the idea of the ‘Warren Herter Memorial Pay it Forward Award’ and he really liked the idea,” Janczek said.
Janczek said while there are students from his schools doing good deeds every day, this story has touched people around the world.
“It makes you feel wonderful as an educator and knowing you get to work with such great young people every day. It’s amazing there’s been so much interest in this story. This isn’t the only great story that happens with young people, not just in Dwight, but all around this area, in the state of Illinois and across our country,” Janczek.
The first scholarships are planned to be given out at the spring awards ceremony.
