Retired from his career in logistics, Perciavalle has always loved math. In fact, he explained, it was his first love.

His family emigrated to the United States from Italy when Perciavalle was very young. However, as an older child, his family moved back. That was when Perciavalle found himself in a predicament due to the language barrier.

“Math always translated, so I excelled at it in school,” he said. “Math became my ticket to a better life. It had a profound impact.”

His family eventually came back to America, and Perciavalle attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh majoring in math and economics. He later obtained an MBA from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Throughout his college years, he tutored math, so seeing the math-help inquiry in the bulletin that day was right up Perciavalle’s alley.

He has attended the parish school for two hours a day, five days a week for the past five years. He helps Kris Watson, fourth grade math teacher, with her class by working with students on their assignments and tutoring.

He said that he gets way more out of helping the children than they know.

“I have friends who ask me to play golf in the mornings and when I say I can’t because I have to help the children with their math, some of my friends ask me why I do it so much,” he explained. “I tell them that it is so fulfilling, especially when I see a child do well on a test or when I help them understand a hard math problem. It is very rewarding.”

Perciavalle also explained that math isn’t the only reason he’s there.

“I am also passionate about a Catholic education,” he added.

That is why he came up with the idea to help parents continue to send their children to Catholic school by offering a scholarship program.

With support from the Diocese of Charleston, Perciavalle and his wife Pamela decided to award $6,000 a year in scholarships. It is divided into four awards of $1,500 each at the end of the year to the boy and girl with the highest Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) math scores and to the boy and girl who have the most improved scores from the beginning of the year.

Perciavalle explained that these awards encourage the kids to work hard. They also ensure that students will continue in Catholic school since the scholarships are applied as a credit to the following year’s tuition.

This was the first year for the awards, but Perciavalle has entered a five-year agreement with the diocese to continue these scholarships. He hopes to extend the scholarships beyond the five years and to increase the amounts.

“When word gets out about this, I am hoping other people in the parish will step up and donate towards the scholarships so that we can help more parents with the costs and maybe even recruit other families to consider a Catholic education,” he added.

The scholarship awards have a few stipulations: the same child cannot win twice, and there is a commitment to attending St. Francis by the Sea for the child’s fifth grade year. Other than that, it is just about doing well at math.

Timothy Dockery, the secretary for Stewardship and Mission Advancement with the diocese, said the diocese was pleased to learn of and help with Perciavalle’s goal.

“It was a pleasure to assist Mr. Perciavalle in establishing these scholarship funds for the students who show the largest gains in their math scores over the year,” Dockery said. “It is obvious how much joy working with these students gives Frank. I know the scholarships will be greatly appreciated by the students who earn them, but every student at St. Francis by the Sea is benefitting from Frank’s generous gifts of his time and talent as well.”

“Education is so important,” Perciavalle concluded. “I want to help people learn, and I want to help people get a good education. This is just what I want to do.”

St. Francis was gifted these additional unsolicited scholarships! They are:

Helen J. Piegza Memorial Scholarship — Full tuition for the designated students annually, throughout their enrollment at St. Francis, provided they maintain an 85 grade point average each year. Two students were originally awarded the scholarships, but after Mr. Piegza met one of the families for a celebratory dinner, he was so impressed that he committed to add a third scholarship for the sibling.

Helen E. Polhamus Memorial Scholarship — Full tuition renewable scholarships annually for two middle school students who maintain an 85 grade point average each year throughout their enrollment.

Berl Family Academic Achievement Award — Two gifts of $1,000 were awarded to a boy and a girl in the graduating class of 2024 who had the highest GPAs throughout middle school.

In addition, the Women of St. Francis donated $25,000 to the school for a greenhouse classroom to commemorate their 20th anniversary as a ministry of St. Francis By the Sea Church. The greenhouse will allow students to participate in STEM opportunities in a nonconventional setting where they will grow flowers for residents of a neighboring nursing home and produce for community food banks on Hilton Head Island.