Champlin Park High School Seniors Selected for Wallin Scholarships
Champlin Park High School Senior Kaylee Rakow wants to teach everyone to sing.
“Music is like the universal language. Anybody can understand music,” said Rakow, who has been singing since she joined a choir in third grade.
She will study music education at St. Olaf College in Northfield next year.
“I think it’s so cool because it connects everybody through this big web, and I think it’s something everybody needs to experience, and I want to bring it to people,” she said.
Kaylee Rakow, a senior at Champlin Park High School, will study music education at St. Olaf College next fall, thanks in part to a Wallin Scholarship.
But college–particularly at a private school–can be prohibitively expensive.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to go to college at first because I was like ‘there’s no way I can pay for this,'” said Rakow. “I was encouraged also by a lot of the staff here to apply for both the scholarship and the school, because I knew it was going to be such a big opportunity and I was so excited.”
That included information about scholarships from a variety of sources, including Wallin Education Partners. The organization funds scholarships worth anywhere from $10,000 to $16,000 per year of college for those who apply. Rakow is one of 29 Anoka-Hennepin School District high school seniors who received Wallin scholarships this year.
According to the district, Wallin has awarded scholarships for more than 30 years, giving more than $12 million in financial aid in that time to 550 Anoka-Hennepin students.
“I knew how much that could help me, and it just opened a whole new window of possibility for me,” said Rakow.
Champlin Park High School Senior Shaine Kilyun is one of 29 students across Anoka-Hennepin Schools to receive a Wallin Scholarship. It will help pay for her to attend the Univeristy of Minnesota.
One of her classmates, Shaine Kilyun, also received a Wallin scholarship to help her pursue a degree in animal science at University of Minnesota. Kilyun’s work making wheelchairs for animals has been profiled by CCX Media, FOX 9, even the “Kelly Clarkson Show” in recent years.
“I’m definitely going to continue my wheelchairs. I don’t know where I’m going to go, but I’ll definitely continue,” said Kilyun on Tuesday. “When I found out I got chosen, I was ecstatic. This is a huge opportunity, and I’m humbled to be able to get this scholarship.”
Champlin Park High School
