Established on 02.22.2022 by Jack Schwandt
Jack Schwandt, child of Enderlin, North Dakota, honors one of the great teachers in his life, Sidney Rand, and his wife Dorothy Holm Rand, with the creation of the Rand-Holm Endowed Scholarship. Jack is a 1952 graduate of Concordia College. He lives in Northfield, Minnesota, where he taught politics and became a writing teacher at St. Olaf College.
Dr. Sidney Anders Rand (1916-2003) was a notable figure in American higher education. He was a college teacher, college president, elder statesman, and mentor. He also became a diplomat. He was a Minnesota native and a called and ordained Lutheran pastor. He brought a clear understanding of that calling, of its discipline, into the Academy. He was a skilled administrator and both a gifted preacher and public speaker. He found his way in the wider world, yet remained a local. As teacher and president, he applied what he had learned as the young pastor of Nashwauk Lutheran Church, located in a small town of that name on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota. To do the job well, he took time to learn about the lives of its members and the complex history of the congregation. So it was with his students and the school when he taught at Concordia College – Moorhead, his alma mater. Similarly when he was president of St. Olaf College. He was ready to learn about the lives of the college groundskeepers, of its faculty and students, and of the many others who had a stake in the school. He was free to listen and he did. This time-consuming work kept him a local. It was his job; better said, it was indeed his calling. “My fame is local,” this laconic jokester might have said. Because he was as good as he was at what he did, he is worthy of our attention. He was an exemplary man.
The Rand-Holm Endowed Scholarship is awarded to one or more students of any class or major. Inspired by the Donor’s early life in Enderlin, ND, preference will be given to students from North Dakota and those who demonstrate financial need.