UW Awards Top Scholarship to 72 Wyoming Students

Seventy-two outstanding high school seniors from across Wyoming have been selected to receive the 2016 Trustees' Scholars Award, the University of Wyoming's top academic scholarship.

The premier scholarship for Wyoming resident high school seniors covers actual credit hours taken, plus room and board costs for eight semesters at UW, starting with the fall 2016 semester. Students from 28 high schools, along with home-school and virtual-school students, were chosen from among 565 eligible candidates.

Recipients are evaluated on their academic excellence (high school grade-point average, ACT/SAT scores and curriculum rigor). For this year’s award winners -- whose application materials were due by Dec. 1 -- the average GPA is 3.99, and the average ACT score is 33.

“Wyoming has many incredibly bright and motivated students, and this list of scholarship recipients represents the best of the best,” UW Admissions Director Shelley Dodd says. “The Trustees’ Scholars Award is highly competitive, with more and more high-achieving students applying.”

To retain the scholarship all four years at UW, students must maintain full-time continuous enrollment (at least 12 semester hours) during the fall and spring semesters each year, along with a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

A total of 278 students are attending UW with support from the Trustees’ Scholars Award this academic year, at a value of $3.44 million.

Recipients of the 2016 scholarship, listed by high schools they’re attending, are:

Big Horn High School -- Kaylin McKinley.

Big Piney High School -- Brexton Bennett.

Buffalo High School -- Philip Renkert.

Campbell County High School -- Tiffany Allen, Ariel Gjovig and Timothy Hays.

Cheyenne Central High School -- Crossland Beer, Abigail Bugg, Elliott Miller, Benjamin Rude and Karen Russell.

Cheyenne East High School -- Sarah Weidler.

Cody High School -- Cassidy Alexander, James Bell and Ashley Umphlett.

Douglas High School -- Morgan Grosdidier.

Encampment High School -- Guy Erickson.

Glenrock High School -- Gideon Williams.

Green River High School -- Amber Nelson.

Hot Springs County High School -- Amanda Dinsmore and Darren Leonhardt.

Jackson Hole High School -- Nicole Peck.

Kelly Walsh High School -- Jordan Ruckle and Zachary Whipps.

Kemmerer High School -- Bailey Schramm.

Lander Valley High School -- Taurey Carr.

Laramie High School -- Jake Aadland, Nunzio Carducci, Christopher Henry, Rachel Huang, Rosalind Kidwell, William Kozlowski, Matthew Radosevich, Daniel Skinner and Ali Stark.

Meeteetse High School -- Darbi Schlenker.

Natrona County High School -- Connor Coughenour, Patrick Ellbogen, Sara Martinez-Garcia, Meagan Soehn and Kevin Thompson.

Pinedale High School -- Sabrina Gay and Nathan Lee.

Powell High School -- Alex Aguirre, Tristan Bohlman, Teagan Cordes, Adam Griffin, Keegan McLain, Garrett Musso and Rachel Wurzel.

Riverton High School -- Gillian Fahey, Travis Fisher and Ben Zoller.

Riverton home school -- John Desenfants.

Rock Springs High School -- James Fantin, Kelly Gonzalez and Anthony Lew.

Saratoga High School -- Thatcher Spiering.

Sheridan High School -- Zach Campbell, Anastasia Giljum, Caleb Hoopes and Cole Kayser.

Star Valley High School -- William Challis, Tyler Lynch, Lindi Moore, Emily Skinner and Gavin Speakman.

Worland High School -- Bryanna Mickelson and Alex Mulhall.

Wright Junior-Senior High School -- Adrienne Mackenzie.

Wyoming Connections Academy -- Ariane Joskow, Cody; and Thomas Mitchell, Pinedale.

For more information about the UW Trustees’ Scholars Award and other scholarship opportunities at UW, go to www.uwyo.edu/admissions/scholarships/index.html.