Surnames: Kohl, Wajda, Drescher

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) May 28, 2008, Page 6; Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon

Wajda received Herb Kohl Foundation scholarship

The selection committee for the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Scholarship and Fellowship Program has announced recipients of the 2008 Herb Kohl Foundation awards for students and teachers.

Karyn Wajda, daughter of Charlotte Drescher and the late Robert Drescher of Neillsville, is an Excellence Scholarship/Fellowship recipient for 2008.

Wajda is a 1989 graduate of Granton High School and a 1993 graduate of UW-La Crosse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics. She has been teaching in the math department at DeLong Middle School, Altoona, for 14 years, serving as department chair.

The $1,000 awards are made to 100 teachers, their schools and 182 graduating high school students.

Scholarship recipients demonstrated excellence in the academic arena and high motivation to achieve, have displayed a broad range of activity and leadership outside the academic setting and have shown strong promise for succeeding in college and beyond.

Fellowship recipients are chosen for their superior ability to inspire a love of learning in their students, their ability to motivate others and for their leadership and service within and outside the classroom. Each Fellow’s school will also receive a $1,000 grant.

Excellence Scholarship and Fellowship recipients are selected by a statewide committee composed of civic leaders and representatives of education-related associations and the program’s co-sponsors: the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation, Wisconsin Department of public Instruction, Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools (WCRIS) and regional Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA).

Herb Kohl, founder of the Herb Kohl Foundation, visits with Karyn Wajda, a recipient of the scholarship and fellowship program. (Contributed photo)