WAYNE – Officials at Wayne State College are proud to announce that the Nebraska Legislature approved the Career Scholarship Program to provide funding for student support aimed at growing the state’s workforce in high demand fields.
According to a release from WSC, the newly created Career Scholarship Program will provide a total of $1 million in scholarships in its first year to be awarded to Chadron State, Peru State or Wayne State College students who are pursuing careers in critical workforce areas. The new funding, signed by Gov. Pete Ricketts on August 6, will help support Wayne State’s Cooperative Education program as part of the Aksarben Foundation’s Northeast Nebraska Growing Together initiative launched last spring.
This scholarship offers students an opportunity to attain their four-year degree at an affordable cost while providing career experience through a work-integrated model of cooperative education. Scholarships can range from $2,000 to $10,000 per year to cover tuition, fees, and room and board expenses. The scholarship is renewable for up to four years for students who remain eligible. The investment made by the state will provide affordable access to a four-year college education and decrease debt for the scholars in the program.
Wayne State College, along with Growing Together, an Aksarben Workforce Initiative, announced the inaugural scholarship winners for the selective Northeast Nebraska Growing Together Cooperative Education Program in April. This first cohort of 26 students received scholarships provided by the Aksarben Foundation and began their education at Wayne State College as freshmen this fall for a three-year on-campus education to be followed by a fourth year of living in Norfolk while working for a local business. This year, WSC students will be pursuing degree programs across business, communications and computer science.
Wayne State is prepared to provide hands-on learning as the college is committed to combining on-the-job learning in a mandatory co-op program with an accelerated curriculum to help Growing Together students gain real-world experience that allows them to graduate in four years with a year of industry experience. In the end, the back-to-back co-op semesters promote a more in-depth learning experience that requires students to become a practitioner in their field and move their learning from conceptual to real-world application.
Business leaders who would like more information about cooperative education should call 402-375-7198 and for more information about the Growing Together program should contact Executive Director Angie Stenger at angie@growingtogetherne.com or 402-860-7439.
Wayne State is proud to recognize the inaugural Northeast Nebraska Growing Together Cooperative Education program scholars:
Abigail Gardner of Chadron in Business Management
Alexander Lyons of Dwight in Business Management
Amber Voboril of David City in Business Management
Aubree Howell of Omaha in Marketing
Austin Pierce of Brainard in Office Administration
Blake Kobs of Ashland in Business Management
Braden Ehlers of Norfolk in Accounting
Brogan Jones of Allen in Agri-business
Cailee Brugger of Wayne in Computer Science
Callasandra Hurley of York in Electronic Media
Caroline Akinnigbagbe of Plainview in Computer Science
Conor Ramold of Neligh in Business Management
Cory Martinson of Wausa in Electronic Media
Delaney Meyer of Lincoln in Journalism
Gregory Downing of Chadron in Computer Science
Hailey Samson of York in Computer Information Systems – Programmer/Analyst
Jaegher Ogden of Atkinson in Business Management
Jarvis Smith of Harvard in Agri-business
Noah Burwell of David City in Computer Science
Raymond Mauldin of Norfolk in Computer Science
Seth Dey of Syracuse in Computer Science
Shane Stahn of Central City in Business Management
Summer Schroeder of Clearwater in Finance
Trevor Boggs of Greenwood in Computer Science
Ty Erwin of Laurel in Business Management
Zoey Kreikemeier of West Point in Marketing