The NDSU College of Engineering held its first ever Scholarship and Awards Reception Oct. 4 in the NDSU Memorial Union Great Plains room. The event was a celebration of student scholarship recipients, scholarship donors and faculty award winners.
This year, the college awarded more than $300,000 in scholarships to more than 160 students. These scholarships were selected by the college or department scholarship committees based on criteria established by donors for each scholarship. They were awarded in the spring of 2018 and have been disbursed for the 2018-19 academic year.
“I knew the esteemed reputation of the NDSU engineering program and that the cost was more affordable than many other schools. That didn’t stop me from applying for as many scholarships as I could,” said Tyler Toepke-Floyd, a senior in mechanical engineering.
Toepke-Floyd, who is from Wishek, North Dakota, said scholarships have allowed him to pursue his interest in entrepreneurship and helped him start a company with a fellow NDSU student.
“It’s clear that scholarships play a significant role in the lives of our students. And we wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the generosity of our donors who choose to make an investment in our students at NDSU by giving generously to those scholarships,” said Scott Pryor, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering.
One of those donors is Obermiller Nelson Engineering (ONE). ONE, a company started by two NDSU engineering graduates, established a scholarship endowment in 2016 as a way to give back to NDSU. Their scholarship supports three students annually.
“When you talk about the traits of a good engineer, you are talking about NDSU graduates,” said Ned Rector, BS ’86, mechanical engineering, and a current production principal at ONE in Fargo. “Certainly, NDSU could get by without ONE. But ONE could not get by without NDSU.”
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