Four high achieving Powell High School seniors’ education will be paid for by the University of Wyoming.

This year, Powell High School seniors Josie Griffin, Kalin Hicswa, Megan Jacobsen and Gretel Opps received the prestigious Trustees’ Scholars Award which will aid them as they pursue a variety of career paths. 

Each year, the University of Wyoming awards 100 outstanding seniors from across Wyoming the Trustees’ Scholars Award. The scholarship pays for tuition for eight undergraduate semesters and covers the cost of room and board and other mandatory fees.

The average ACT score was 32 and the average GPA was a 3.97. During each year of college, they must maintain full-time continuous enrollment during both the fall and spring semesters along with achieving a 3.25 GPA.

Josie Griffin

Griffin is a teen seamstress who is planning on earning a degree in accounting and a minor in apparel design. She believes a degree in accounting will set her up well to be able to successfully run her own business.

The University of Wyoming is one of the closest schools that offers an apparel design minor which greatly influenced her decision to attend UW next fall. After graduating from the University of Wyoming, she plans on working as an accountant for a couple years, then opening her own bridal boutique. 

“I was overjoyed when I read the email saying I had been awarded the trustees’ scholarship,” Griffin said. “I truly didn’t know if I would receive the scholarship, but now that I have been, it seems all of my plans after school are falling into place.”

Kalin Hicswa

Hicswa will be pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and he was accepted into the Honors College at the University of Wyoming which allows him to receive a minor in Honors. If Hicswa does not receive the STARR scholarship from Michigan State, he will likely attend UW in the fall.

The end goal for Hicswa is to work with carbon capture and carbon sequestration development in the state of Wyoming. He does not plan to pursue a master’s degree right away, however, he believes he will further his education at some point. 

“Having [UW] be free really makes a big difference because a big issue in education is cost,” Hicswa said. “UW has an awesome engineering program, and I’ve had good experiences with the Honors College. I’m excited to see how that goes going forward.”

Megan Jacobsen

Jacobsen is planning on pursuing a degree in kinesiology and health promotion at the University of Wyoming and will be working towards earning a doctorate of occupational therapy. When she heard the news of her award, Jacobsen was full of excitement.

“I saw the email [about the trustees’] the moment it went through and looked at it, and I immediately texted my family and told them,” Jacobsen said. 

Receiving the trustees’ scholarship solidified Jacobsen’s decision to attend the University of Wyoming in the fall, however, she was considering Chadron State and Utah State. She was offered a small track scholarship at Chadron. Attending UW will allow Jacobsen to still be relatively close to her family which is important to her. 

Gretel Opps

Although Opps has not decided if she will be attending UW, she will be majoring in kinesiology and exercise science. Opps aspires to be a sports medicine physician which will allow her to work with athletes. A sports physician is similar to an athletic trainer, but she will perform less of the therapy aspect and will be in charge of diagnosing injuries.

Her dream is to attend BYU Hawaii, but she is also interested in BYU Provo, so she can be close to her family.

Even though UW and living in Laramie doesn’t necessarily appeal to Opps, she is intrigued by the travel abroad program.

“I don’t want to necessarily spend time in Laramie, but a cool thing they do is they pay for you to study abroad with the trustees’,” Opps said. “So that would definitely be something because I’m not necessarily wanting to be in Laramie.”