Erickson, Spiering awarded Trustees' Scholars Award

Encampment’s Guy Erickson and Saratoga’s Thatcher Spiering have received the Trustees’ Scholars Award for their college careers beginning in the fall. They were among 72 outstanding high school seniors from across Wyoming to receive the University of Wyoming’s (UW) top academic scholarship.

The premier scholarship for Wyoming resident high school seniors covers actual credit hours taken, plus room and board costs for eight semesters at UW, starting with the fall 2016 semester. Students from 28 high schools, along with home-school and virtual-school students, were chosen from among 565 eligible candidates.

Recipients are evaluated on their academic excellence (high school grade-point average, ACT/SAT scores and curriculum rigor). For this year’s award winners — whose application materials were due by Dec. 1 — the average GPA is 3.99, and the average ACT score is 33.

“Wyoming has many incredibly bright and motivated students, and this list of scholarship recipients represents the best of the best,” UW Admissions Director Shelley Dodd says. “The Trustees’ Scholars Award is highly competitive, with more and more high-achieving students applying.”

To retain the scholarship all four years at UW, students must maintain full-time continuous enrollment (at least 12 semester hours) during the fall and spring semesters each year, along with a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

A total of 278 students are attending UW with support from the Trustees’ Scholars Award this academic year, at a value of $3.44 million.

Both of the Platte Valley recipients are active and successful in basketball and wrestling among other activities, in addition to their impressive academic performance.