At PITF’s annual scholarship awards ceremony for Marshall High School seniors, Bjella announced that scholarship giving had reached a major milestone.

“I’m proud to share that this evening, Pride in the Tiger will award its three millionth dollar in scholarships to Marshall High School seniors,” Bjella told the crowd.

PITF awarded a total of $262,931 in scholarship funds to MHS seniors on Wednesday night. Some of the awards included special recognitions, like the Principal’s Award, which was given to senior Karsten Springborg.

MHS Principal Brian Jones said the Principal’s Award recipient is a person who has balanced academics and extracurricular activities, who has continually supported their classmates, and who gives of themselves for others. “Most of all, the recipient is a person of high integrity and character,” Jones said.

Photo by Deb Gau Marshall educator Kari Ehlers spoke about why supporting Marshall students was important to her, during Wednesday's awards ceremony.

Some of the other special recognitions awarded Wednesday included the Bud Rose Award and the Kaiser Award, which are awarded to MHS athletes ranking high in athletic performance and characteristics like sportsmanship, leadership and cooperation. This year’s Bud Rose Award recipient is JR Vierstraete, and the Kaiser Award recipient is Taleigha Bigler.

The annual scholarship night has come a long way since 1999, when Pride in the Tiger was founded, Bjella said. She said the first MHS seniors to receive scholarships were from the graduating class of 2000. That first group of scholarships totaled $35,460, she said.

Reaching the $3 million milestone this year was something that was made possible by the generosity of donors, community members, alumni and educators, Bjella said.

“Scholarships are more than financial support. They recognize dedication, character and commitment to continued growth beyond high school,” she said.

Speakers at the awards ceremony said helping Marshall students succeed is something that means a lot to them. Marshall Public Schools teacher Kari Ehlers shared why she and her husband established the Dream On scholarship endowment in 2022. The scholarship is given to support an English language learner who plans to pursue education beyond high school.

Photo by Deb Gau MHS seniors, including Trinity Brownlee, shook hands with scholarship presenters at Wedneday's ceremony.

“Our greatest desire was to invest in something near and dear to our hearts. For me, that answer was very clear, and that was my students,” Ehlers said. Ehlers said she has had the privilege of working with Marshall students who are immigrants and refugees.

“No matter what a child’s past education looks like, each of them navigates the challenges of school, sometimes jobs, making friends, learning social skills, figuring out how the heck school lunch works, and helping their families establish their homes,” Ehlers said. She remembered her own students, like twin brothers who arrived in the U.S. with their family from a refugee camp in Thailand. The brothers worked hard to achieve their dreams, earning spots on the MHS wrestling team, entering the National Guard, and pursuing jobs in law enforcement, she said.

Ehlers said students and teachers help each other to grow as people.

“I’m here to tell you that teachers have been blessed by having each of you in their classrooms,” she told students. “You’ve challenged them to do things a new way. You’ve nudged them along when they thought they were out of ideas, and you helped them get through their own challenging days.”

“Through my students and their families, I continue to gain appreciation for the journeys that have brought each and every one of them here,” Ehlers said.

Photo by Deb Gau Senior JR Vierstraete was presented with awards including the Bud Rose Award during the scholarship ceremony.

The annual senior scholarships are not PITF’s only contribution, Bjella said. Over the past 10 years, the foundation has invested nearly $800,000 in classrooms in Marshall’s public and private schools through teacher impact grants. “We are making an impact on education in Marshall,” she said.

A full list of scholarship award recipients can be found online at www.marshallindependent.com.

Photo by Deb Gau Taleigha Bigler received the Kaiser Award at Wednesday's senior scholarship ceremony.

Photo by Deb Gau Samuel Zavala stepped forward to receive a scholarship award at Wednesday's ceremony.

Photo by Deb Gau MHS senior Sierra Olsen shook hands with MHS faculty as she was called up for an award.