Weise to receive $5,000 scholarship
Nikky Weise, of Waupaca, is the recipient of a $5,000 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Excellence Scholarship.
She is among the state’s 184 graduating high school seniors to be named a 2016 scholar.
The award is based on leadership, citizenship, community service, integrity and academic potential.
The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation also honors teachers and principals.
This is the first year principal awards are being recognized across the state.
Weise and other central Wisconsin students, teachers and principals were honored during an April 16 awards luncheon, at Kimberly High School.
Selection of the Excellence Scholars begins at the school district level.
Candidates are forwarded to the regional level.
A regional selection panel, consisting of teachers, administrators, civic leaders and news media representatives, chooses finalists.
Those applications are then forwarded to a statewide committee made up of civic leaders, representatives of the Wisconsin of Religious and Independent Schools, Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Cooperative Educational Service agencies, Association of Wisconsin School Administrators and several education-related associations.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction coordinates the process.
Up until this year, Excellence Scholars received a $3,000 scholarship.
Earlier this month, at the first awards luncheon in Chippewa Falls, there was a surprise announcement of an increase in the scholarship from $3,000 to $5,000.
Teachers and principals receive $3,000, with an additional $3,000 also awarded to their schools for innovative educational projects.
Established by Herb Kohl in 1990, the Kohl Educational Foundation Scholarship and Fellowship Program has provided $10.2 million to Wisconsin educators, students and schools.