Sally Faith receives Distinguished Alumni Award

Published: 05/28/2019

Sally A. Faith (left) received the St. Charles Community College Distinguished Alumni Award from Pam Cilek, SCC Board of Trustees president, at the college’s 31^st commencement on May 18.

Faith has devoted her life to moving St. Charles and St. Charles County forward. As part of that, her persistence and support for St. Charles Community College from the very earliest days all the way to the present, has helped thousands of students to pursue their dream of a college education.

“We cannot ever give up,” Faith said. “We have to keep going forward.”

Faith helped to pass the ballot initiative that established SCC, and was elected to SCC’s first Board of Trustees, serving from 1986-1995. She said she ran because she wanted residents to have the opportunity to get low in-district tuition rates, and because the college would make a positive impact on the region. She was the director of development for the SCC Foundation from 1997 to 2005, and was elected an Emeritus Foundation board member in 2009. She took classes at SCC, her son Howard received an associate degree and her grandson Lance is currently attending SCC.

Throughout her career, Faith continued to push for excellence. She recently retired after serving two terms as Mayor of the City of St. Charles, 2011-2015 and 2015-2019. She previously represented St. Charles County (District 15) in the Missouri House of Representatives and served as chair and vice-chair of the St. Charles County Council District 5 from 1995-2004. 

Faith is a member of the St. Charles Transit Authority, Athena Leadership Foundation, the Rotary Club of St. Charles and the Greater St. Charles County Chamber of Commerce. She also served on the board of directors of Bridgeway, Focus St. Louis, Connections to Success, New Frontier Bank, Habitat for Humanity, the Foundry Art Center, Mayor’s Clergy Coalition, Human Relations Commission, Neighbor Helping Neighbor Services Coalition and Emergency Weather Response Team. 

Always mindful of the importance of helping others and affecting positive change, Faith said she plans to continue the scholarship she set up in 2003, the Florence Killian Memorial Scholarship, in memory of her mother. She said the scholarship is intended to help returning learners attend college who may not have had the best GPA or circumstances. Some friends and community members originally helped her to set it up, and today her son and grandson help to keep it going.