Provided by Barbara Herveat Horton Calumet High School Lighthouse Learners Scholarship program student Heidi Langley uses a stethoscope on an unidentified student at Michigan Technological University as part of the program. The CHS students have one more year left in the Lighthouse Learners, which will provide scholarships to Tech to students who complete the program.

CALUMET — About six years ago, Barbara Herveat Horton and her husband, Paul, decided they’d like to do something to help students at Washington Middle School and Calumet High School go to college, and what they came up with is the Lighthouse Learners Scholarship program.

The program started in 2010 and it has one more year to go, Herveat Horton said. The program started with 12 sixth grade students. There are seven juniors left. Those who finish the program will receive a full-ride scholarship to Michigan Technological University. The scholarship will pay for tuition, fees, books and housing at Tech for qualified students.

For a September 2010 Gazette article about the start of the program, Herveat Horton said it took longer than the normal four years for her to get a college degree for several reasons, and that experience prompted her to create a program, which would take some of the stress out of attending post-secondary education.

“I got my college education one class at a time,” she said for the 2010 article.

For this article, Herveat Horton said the students who qualify for the scholarship will receive it only as long as they attend Tech.

“Each year, they will receive one fourth (of the scholarship),” she said.

She and her husband make an appearance at the school each year to talk with the students in the program.

“My husband and I always attend the first session,” she said.

Julie Fenton, fifth grade teacher for the Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium & Keweenaw, said the Lighthouse Learners students have been with her from the beginning.

“They’ve been my students for six years, now,” she said. “I’ve watched them grow up.”

Fenton said she and Charmaine Parsons are co-teachers for the Lighthouse Learners program.

The program involves academics, spiritual instruction, community service learning, connection to Tech, community development and personal development.

The program started with 30 sessions each year, but it’s down to 20 sessions, Fenton said.

“Each session will have a different focus,” she said.

For community service, Fenton said students work with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. They also work with the elderly at a various facilities in the area. Students also get involved with Make A Difference Day and the Tech Parade of Nations.

Fenton said spirituality can be part of the program because although the classes take place at C-L-K, the program is privately funded and uses no public money.

The students in the program are taking this year to decide what degrees they’d like to pursue at Tech, Fenton said.

“They are working with our Michigan Tech advisors,” she said.

Some possibilities students are considering include engineering, health care, and law, Fenton said.

“They’re really just exploring,” she said.

Darryl Pierce, C-L-K superintendent, said the Lighthouse Learners program is a collaboration between the Hortons, Tech and C-L-K.

The religious component of the program is allowed at the school because it’s operated under the auspicious of Tech.

“Any religious group can come in and use our building,” he said.

Pierce said the Lighthouse Learners program has helped students in the program do well with their other classes.

“It raised the bar for them,” he said.

Herveat Horton said she’s still thinking about what, if anything, will follow the Lighthouse Learners program after next year.

“What I would like to do is provide more opportunities for more kids, but it wouldn’t be a full scholarship,” she said.

The program went very well, and it provided the students what she wanted them to get, Herveat Horton said.

“I’m extremely pleased,” she said. “The children are developing in an amazing way.”