New scholarships are established each year. One new scholarship that will soon be offered comes from an unusual funding source—building a home.

Doug Emanuel, husband of assistant principal LaVonna Emanuel, has spent the past year building a home to be sold. Proceeds from the sale of the home will go toward establishing a scholarship for students in Sioux Falls.

The couple decided that they would bring the new scholarship to Sioux Falls in the name of their daughter, Kate, who died in a car crash Oct. 16, 2006, while returning to college in Iowa. A scholarship in her name has already been established at North Bend Public Schools in Nebraska where Kate attended most years of school. Now another scholarship will be brought to Sioux Falls.

Doug Emanuel said the Sioux Falls School District staff was very helpful after the death of their daughter and he and his wife decided that the scholarship would be appropriate for the Sioux Falls School District.

“A lot of staff donated money toward the memorial,” he said, “and we decided we would start a scholarship fund here in Sioux Falls.”

He also said that the scholarship would start at WHS where his wife works and possibly be available at other high schools around the Sioux Falls area later.

The house is located at 1405 S. Montpelier Ave. behind Discovery Elementary School. Work on the house started last October and will be completed soon. Doug Emanuel was forced to quit his regular day job in order to complete this grueling task. He usually started early each morning and worked until late at night. He is still working to put the finishing details on the house, including the deck.

He said he completed the project himself and it took a lot of work to draw the project to a close.

“I did most of the work myself,” he said, “and I started the second weekend of October of last year, so the project took about a year to complete.”

The house has unique features including a dome shaped living room with a beautiful chandelier that hangs from the peak of the dome. The basement includes a drop down television projection theater.

Doug Emanuel said a recent open house has been successful so far, and he hopes to sell the home soon.

“I am glad that many people attended the open house,” he said, “and we hope the rest of the process will go smoothly.”