Scholarship Winner 2004 - Kamila Knick
DSU student named as the 1st mentor scholarship award winner
DICKINSON, ND - The Best Friends Mentoring Program announces that Kamila Knick, a Dickinson State University student from Culbertson, Mont., has been selected to receive the first scholarship awarded to a mentor in the program.
During the 2003-2004 school year, Knick met weekly for two hours with a sixth grade girl in a Dickinson elementary school. Once a week, they ate lunch together at school and then spent another hour after school doing homework, playing games, or participating in sports together.
"We,ve gotten really close," Knick, 21 years old, said. "She always asks to spend more time with me. The best thing we,ve done is swimming. We both like to swim and I also help with her schoolwork when she falls behind." Knick said she volunteered to be a Senior Friend with the Best Friends Program because she likes to be involved in the community and "to hopefully be the difference in a child,s life, one who really needs the special attention and love. I like to help her find the best in everything."
The Western Wellness Foundation,s board of directors established the $500 Best Friends Program Senior Friend Scholarship to help recruit new mentors to the program and to encourage potential mentors to volunteer. To be eligible for the scholarship, the applicant must have volunteered as a Senior Friend with the Best Friends Program for at least nine months, be attending post-secondary education or training in the 2004-2005 school year, and complete an application form.
The Best Friends Program serves more than 75 children in the eight-county area of southwest North Dakota, matching them one-to-one or in small groups with responsible, trained volunteer mentors. For information about Best Friends, call 483-8615 or 1-877-877-8685 toll free. Knick is a senior at DSU, majoring in pre-professional biology. After graduation next year, she plans to continue her education in pediatric dentistry and hopes to return to rural North Dakota or Montana to open her own practice.
Past Scholarship Winners
