Governor Noem appoints first members to Freedom Scholarship Board

Governor Kristi Noem recently appointed the first board members of the Freedom Scholarship endowment, the state’s first-ever needs-based scholarship program.

The inaugural board members include Dana Dykhouse, Miles Beacom, Phyllis Heineman, Diana Vanderwoude, and Chris Houwman. 

Dykhouse, of Sioux Falls, says this will be a flexible program aimed at helping fill the tuition gap for students.

Dykhouse says companies and boards that donate to the scholarship fund can designate how those dollars can be used.

The scholarship endowment was created by this year’s legislature with fifty-million dollars in state money. With other donations, the fund now has over one-hundred seventy-five million dollars in commitments.