Allow us to briefly introduce ourselves. We are John Mittelbach and Ryan Tobias, both graduates of Gull Lake High School, Class of 2001. We founded the Pelletier Scholarship Fund to recognize the impact that Gull High School teacher Phyllis Pelletier has had on our lives and countless others in over 30 years of teaching at Gull Lake High School. The Pelletier Scholarship Fund will, in consultation
with Mrs. Pelletier, award its inaugural scholarship in the spring 2013 to an extraordinary Gull Lake High School student pursuing the study of liberal arts or social sciences. Pelletier likely needs no introduction, but we want to share briefly what she has meant to us and our lives. During our sophomore and junior years, Mrs. Pelletier taught us World History and AP United States History. Her passion for history was infectious. Over those two years, Mrs. Pelletier pushed us to recognize and test our potential. Along the way, we become better writers. We honed our critical thinking and reading abilities. AP US History was more than a college prep course to us. It not only prepared us for the challenges and demands of college coursework, it made some of the early courses seem almost easy. We had seen it before. Pelletier’s impact on us has been more than academic. Her classroom was a place of respect and integrity. We learned these lessons by example. She is tireless in her dedication to her students, in her desire to help them recognize and to achieve their potential. She sets the bar at where she knows it should be, and you simply do not want to let her down. Pelletier has been one of the invisible hands on our backs, pushing us to seek out and conquer new challenges, and to make a positive impact on our world. She has been a reminder to never settle for what is easy or convenient. Our story is one of many. In her over three decades of teaching, Mrs. Pelletier has inspired, challenged, and educated hundreds of students. Her work in the AP program alone is unparalleled. Still more students knew and learned from her as their track and field coach. In our work establishing the Scholarship Fund, we have learned about the impact she has had on parents, who saw the effect that Mrs. Pelletier’s dedication had on their children. We created the Pelletier Scholarship Fund as a way to recognize Mrs. Pelletier’s extraordinary efforts. Our initial fundraising goal of $25,000 will support a $1,000 scholarship each year. Additional details about the Pelletier Scholarship’s criteria and selection procession will be included this spring with the listing of scholarships provided by the Gull Lake Community Schools Foundation. We hope that this will only be the beginning and that over the coming years the Pelletier Scholarship Fund will grow to be able to provide an increasingly significant impact on the academic goals of Gull Lake students worthy of its namesake. We greatly appreciate your support. If you have would like more information about the Pelletier Scholarship Fund, have any questions for us, or would like to contact us for any other reason, please send us an email at [email protected]. If would like to make a donation in support of our cause, please visit our Rally fundraising page at https://rally.org/pelletierscholarshipfund
-John Mittelbach and Ryan Tobias
*All donations to the Pelletier Scholarship Fund are tax-deductible, and the Pelletier Scholarship Fund is certified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 tax exempt corporation. We welcome your support in any way that is most convenient for you. To make a contribution by credit card, please follow the instructions at this Rally website. If you wish to make a contribution by check or some other format, please contact us at the email address provided above and we will be happy to provide you with our mailing address and work with you to make any other necessary arrangements.
