Two Libby High School graduates are starting their college careers with less financial stress, due to scholarships awarded by the Libby High School Educational Trust.

The trust awarded $1,000 scholarships to Auria Smith, who will be attending Montana State University in Billings, and Samantha Reagan-Nelson who will be attending Flathead Valley Community College. Reagan-Nelson’s scholarship is from the Lovick Family Memorial Scholarship, a part of the trust named for the Lovick family, who made a generous donation to the trust.

The scholarships are intended to help students get into college and get moving forward, said trustee Jim Sullivan.

“In Libby it’s always been kind of tough for a kid to get to school,” he said. “If we can propel them into the first year they find a way to finish. We’ve had some good success stories over the years.”

The trust was established in 1988, with the support of the Rotary Club of the Kootenai Valley, Sullivan said. Over the years, the trust has grown to $195,000 in assets and has awarded more than $52,000 in scholarships to Libby High School graduates. The scholarships awarded each year come only from interest earned on the trust’s assets, never from the principal. Sullivan said careful money management has allowed the trust to continue to assist Libby graduates.

“With a trust like this you have a strong fiduciary responsibility,” Sullivan said. “You can’t make investments that will lose money.”

Sullivan said the trust is always looking for, and appreciative of, new donors. The tough economic times of the past several years in Libby have resulted in fewer donations, limiting the growth of the trust and its ability to provide more assistance to local students.