Community Foundation honors local college students

The Board of Directors of the Kenosha Community Foundation announced that six Kenosha County students, who are all currently attending a college in the state of Wisconsin, will be awarded scholarships from the Foundation’s Cropley, Howard J. Brown and Madrigrano-Friebus Scholarship Funds.

The Foundation’s Cropley Scholarships

The following four Kenosha County residents are recipients of the 2021 Foundation’s Cropley Scholarships — each receiving a $3,000 award:

• Mitchell Buban is a senior at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studying Biological Science in preparation for dental school. He has a “passion for leadership and bringing out the best in those around him.”
• Kerigann Ballard will be a junior at Carthage College studying Chemistry and Spanish. She wants to go to medical school and values “firsthand the impact  of removing language barriers in health care.”
• Seth Lenox will be a sophomore at UW-La Crosse studying Computer Science. His ultimate goal is to one day open a cybersecurity consulting firm that will help companies “find flaws or vulnerabilities in their networks and then I would work to develop firewalls or fixes for the shortfalls.”
• Maria Jimena Salazar-Zambrano is a sophomore at UW-Parkside majoring in biology. She wants to go to dental school with the goal of “transforming someone’s smile and boosting their self confidence.”

Established by the late Ward Cropley, the former head of classified advertising at the Kenosha News (retired in 1962 after 43 years with the newspaper), and his wife Jesse Cropley, the scholarships are to provide financial assistance to “needy and worthy students, who are desirous of and ambitious to receive a college, university, or other higher education, and who without financial assistance, would be unable to acquire such college, university or higher education.”

Since its introduction in 2015, the Foundation has awarded over $70,000 in Cropley Scholarships to 28 college students from Kenosha County.

The Howard J. Brown Scholarship

Isabella Ricker, a junior at UW-Madison majoring in Legal Studies, Political Science and Gender and Women’s Studies, has been selected to receive the 2021 Howard J. Brown Scholarship – a $2,500 award. Ms. Ricker wants to pursue a career in the legal field so that she is able to “promote gender employment equity as a lawyer or by designing public policy related to family leave, harassment, pay inequity and hiring discrimination.”

Established at the Foundation in 2019, the scholarship honors the late Howard J. Brown, former publisher of the Kenosha News and longtime member of the Kenosha Community Foundation Board of Directors. The one-year scholarships were established “for the benefit of students that meet criteria with regard to need and scholastic or professional promise.”

The Madrigrano-Friebus Scholarship

Olivia Patrizzi, a senior at UW-Parkside, has been selected to receive the 2021 Madrigrano-Friebus Scholarship – a $1,250 award. Olivia is pursuing a double major in Marketing and Business Management (with a concentration in Human Resources) and a minor in Communications.

Established by Gina Madrigrano-Friebus, the scholarship is awarded to a Kenosha County woman in their final (junior or senior) year at Carthage College or UW-Parkside with an excellent academic record. Ms. Patrizzi is the fifth recipient of the scholarship.