Scholarships help Red Cloud students follow their college dreams

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff | Thursday, February 21, 2008

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Red Cloud High School senior Season Frank is thinking nursing might be the career for her and a national scholarship has her $20,000 closer to that dream.

Frank, 17, was one of 107 United States high school students awarded the Horatio Alger National Scholarship this year, and she won an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the 2008 National Scholars Conference along with it.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I was kind of relieved. It was hard work and it took a lot of time and effort.”

Frank hopes to use the scholarship money to attend South Dakota State University for nursing. Her advice to other students is about hard work.

“Put a lot of time and effort into everything you do because it does pay off in the end,” she said. The work includes applying for as many scholarships you can, she said. Even with the $20,000, which can be used at $4,000 a year for five years, Frank is also applying for the Gates Millennium Scholarship.

“It’s pretty stressful coming up with the money for college,” she said.

Tammy Steele, one of the counselors at the school who assists students with scholarship and college applications, said she sees firsthand the struggles students face when paying for college.

“I feel like they do stress about it,” she said. “Applying for these scholarships gives them the opportunity to be considered. I tell (them) to take the opportunity and apply for every scholarship they can so it will be less stressful when they finish college.”

Frank wasn’t the only Red Cloud student who received a Horatio Alger scholarship.

Dylan Fills Pipe, 18, was one of 25 South Dakota students who won the $5,000 state scholarship and Chant Knight, 17, won a $1,000 Horatio scholarship.

Fills Pipe plans to attend Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. to study education. He said he was surprised that he was selected and had doubts about even being able to go to the college.

“I was doubting and second guessing myself,” he said. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to go there or not because it’s a really expensive school.”

The Horatio scholarship and an additional community service and leadership scholarship from Creighton have made it possible for him to attend the college. He said the work for all of this started four years ago.

“That’s where it all starts, your freshman year,” he said.

Knight says he might also attend Creighton or head to UCLA, where he plans to study pre-med to become a pediatrician.

“I’ve always wanted to be a pediatrician, as long as I (can) remember,” he said.

His advice for younger students is to take their education very seriously and not be weighed down by the challenges that can come up while living on the reservation.

“Always believe in (your) dreams and never give up,” he said. “Even though you’re living on the reservation in poverty, there’s a big world out there left to discover.”

Living a clean life is also a key to success, he added.

“I would also tell the younger kids to stay away from drugs and alcohol, always be focused and take school work seriously,” he said. “That’s what I did and it seems to have worked.”

Knight said he lives with his mom and remembers her reaction to the news of the scholarship.

“She was very happy,” he said. “She had a big smile on her face and she said that she was really proud of me.”

Nick Dressel, principal of the high school, is also proud.

“They all deserve it; they worked very hard for this recognition,” he said. “They’re great role models at Red Cloud High School. Hopefully this scholarship will help them fulfill all their hopes and dreams.”

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or Kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com