Three Powell High School students were selected for the University of Wyoming’s prestigious Trustee’s Scholars Award.

Alan Crawford, Dexter Opps and Dallin Waite were all selected to receive the award which is only given to 100 students each year. The selected students’ average GPA was 3.97 with an average ACT score of 32. This year 970 students applied and the awardees were chosen from 29 schools, a release from UW said.

The award allows students to “go to UW while also being paid,” Crawford said, while there is also a prestige to the award and it allows students to prove to themselves that they can reach that high level of achievement.

The scholarship provides students with four years or up to eight consecutive semester of schooling at the University of Wyoming. It covers up to 18 credit hours per semester, mandatory fees, and standard room and board. 

However, Crawford has opted to go to Brigham Young University where he has a full tuition scholarship and his family has gone for generations.

“I’ve gone and visited a lot, and I just really enjoy the culture there. I think it’ll be a good first for me, and their computer science program is really what I want,” Crawford said.  

Opps and Waite aren’t heading to college right away. For now, they are deferring their scholarships as they prepare to go on two-year missions to Mongolia and South Carolina, respectively. 

“I think it’d be a great opportunity to meet new people and help serve the people in Mongolia and become stronger in my values,” Opps said.

Waite agreed with Opps’ sentiment in regards to his missions.

When he returns he has some full tuition scholarship offers at other schools, but “UW is a great opportunity” and where he is currently leaning, Opps said.

Waite added that when he returns from his mission he does have other scholarships, but the full ride to UW is appealing.

Financially the state university makes a lot of sense, and in recent years they have put a lot of funding into the engineering department, Opps said.

“It’s become really big there, and I think that would be really great for what I want to do later in life,” Opps said.