KEARNEY — Students with GPAs exceeding 4.0 from Kearney High School and Logan View High School in Hooper will attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney thanks to the Omaha World-Herald/Kearney Hub Scholarship.
This year’s recipients of the scholarship are Faith Kowalski of KHS and Andrew Poppe of LVHS.
The OWH/Hub scholarship is the premier academic award at UNK. It will provide room and board, tuition and fees, and books for the duration of Kowalski’s and Poppe’s collegiate careers.
John Falconer, director of the UNK honors program, said there were 128 applicants for the OWH/Hub scholarship and that of those applicants, 40 were invited to campus for interviews.
Kowalski is the daughter of Patrick and Autumn Kowalski of Kearney and will graduate from KHS with a 4.4 GPA. She ranks first in her class and scored 32 on her ACT exam. She plans to major in sports management and compete for the Loper women’s tennis team.
Kowalski competed for the KHS cross country team, was a four-time varsity letter winner, and competed at the state championships three times. She received academic all-state and all-conference honors.
On the tennis team, Kowalski was a four-time letter winner. She had undefeated consecutive Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference championships, was a medalist in the state championships, has set three KHS records, and received academic all-state and all-conference honors.
She is a Youth Leadership Kearney graduate and serves as secretary of student council, vice president of National Honor Society and K Club, treasurer of Key Club, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Team, and is a member of the Rooted Youth Group. She coordinated four communitywide and schoolwide Red Cross blood drives, volunteered at Kearney Tackles Cancer events and the Special Olympics bowling tournament, and has participated in two mission trips to Winnebago and East St. Louis, Ill.
Poppe is the son of Steve and Diane Poppe. He will graduate from LVHS with a 4.042 GPA and ranked first in his class. He scored 33 on the ACT and plans to major in biology and minor in physics with a pre-physical therapy emphasis.
He is an Eagle Scout with bronze and gold palms for additional service in his community. He was a drum major for two consecutive years and held the spot of lead alto in his school’s jazz band for four years. He was named academic all-state, all-district honorable mention, and all-state honorable mention in football. Other activities include basketball, track, band, quiz bowl, play production and FCCLA.
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