Youth Support Project and volunteered at Best Friends' carnivals and special events so she could do more to help kids.

"I love working with kids and originally, I didn't have much experience," Bobbi, 21 years old, said. "In the after school program, I helped kids with homework, kids read aloud to me and I got to know the kids. As a mentor, I watch my friend's swimming practices, play games, play sports, eat lunch at the school and we have fun together."

To date, Bobbi has logged nearly 300 hours a year working with children through the Best Friends Mentoring Program.

A 2002 Trenton High School graduate, Bobbi is the daughter of Robert and Teri Gannaway. She plans to graduate in the spring with an elementary teaching degree.

Bobbi said she volunteered with the Best Friends Program because she has a sincere desire to help children and was looking for experience.

"It's great to see them succeed," she said. "And it's nice to know they respect me and look up to me."

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 2005-2006 school year, and complete an application form.

The Best Friends Program serves more than 150 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.

Gannaway is a senior at DSU, majoring in elementary education. After graduation in May, she hopes to teach kindergarten. She plans to teach in rural North Dakota and in the future she plans earn a master's degree.