Why Marvin Gives Scholarships to Warroad Students – Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
Many of Warroad High School’s college-bound seniors receive a huge chunk of financial aid from an important source. Why is the Marvin family set on educating the town’s youth?
by Madison Bloomquist
September 4, 2025
7:52 AM
Photo by William S. and Margaret I. Marvin Scholarship
Many Minnesotans don’t realize that small-town Warroad, Minnesota, right at the top of the state near the Northwest Angle, has a secret weapon that helps many of its high school graduates finish college close to debt-free: a generous local family with giant industry ties.
The Marvin family, founders of the lauded Marvin window company based practically right next to the high school, has long helped the school (and community) fund various buildings and projects. But one of the family’s most impressive contributions is the William S. and Margaret I. Marvin Scholarship, a $15 million endowment that gives as many students as possible significant funding for the two- and four-year schools of their dreams, simply because its founders believed in the power of education as an equalizer—and wanted kids in town, regardless of their financial situation, to feel like continuing education was an option.
Students don’t automatically receive the scholarship, which, in 2025, gave $12,200 per academic year for four-year programs and about $6,750 per year for two-year. Students must complete a minimum of 100 community service hours between grades 7 and 12, maintain a 2.0 or higher GPA, and participate in extracurriculars.
“We start talking about it right away, before seventh grade,” says district principal Brita Comstock. “It’s important for students to get those community service hours in—but that’s now part of the culture here, too.”
There’s no limit for how many students in each graduating class (typically around 50 to 75 students) can earn the scholarship, and most of the students who meet the requirements do receive it.
The scholarship recipients (350-plus since the program’s inception in 2007) know full well how unique it is, too. Bailey Reeves, a 2022 grad who’s studying nursing at the College of Saint Benedict, says earning the scholarship allowed her to attend her dream school, something that likely would have been financially impossible otherwise.
“Early on, I understood the gravity of it and how incredible it could be for someone like me,” Reeves, the daughter of a Warroad teacher, says. “If I didn’t have this, finances would have been the biggest factor in my choice. But instead, I got my dream.”
Madison is Associate Editor of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.
September 4, 2025
7:52 AM
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