Cook Family Foundation

Twenty-seven of Shiawassee County’s most academically accomplished high school seniors have been nominated for scholarships to the University of Michigan by the Cook Family Foundation.  One of the students will be selected to receive a four-year, full-tuition scholarship from Bruce and Jacqueline Cook.   Each of the nominees will receive at least a $2,000 scholarship to the University of Michigan from the Cook Family Foundation.  Click here for more information on our scholarship programs

If they apply and are admitted to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the following students will be considered for the Bruce and Jacqueline Cook scholarship: from Byron, Vanessa Kiefer; from Chesaning, Brody Cragg and Jared Weisenberger; from Corunna, Nathan Dennison, Anna Heidt, Stephanie Rasmussen, Lauren Ruess, and Kaila Watson; from Durand, Madeline Dietrich; from Laingsburg, Brandon Derke, Kirsten Johnson, and Sydney Rivard; from New Lothrop, Armon (Jake) Aznavorian and Nolan Wendling; from Ovid-Elsie, Logan Applebee, Hunter Charvat, and Alma Gingerich; from Owosso, Jordan Bannan, Caitlin Harrell, Janae Hurd, Geoffrey McClung, Olivia Pritchett, Samantha Traylor, and Madison Van Epps; and from Perry, Alexander Proudfoot, Cody Proudfoot, and Courtney Smith.

Past recipients of the Bruce and Jackie Cook Scholarship have included Emily Feuka from Perry in 2013, Sam Whaley also from Perry in 2012, Adam Stewart from Laingsburg in 2011, Valerie Foster from Byron in 2010, Adam Dingens from Corunna in 2009, Randy Piper from Owosso in 2008, Dan Frechtling from Perry in 2007 and Kendra Frye of Owosso in 2006.

Adams Dingens, a Corunna High School graduate from 2009, was selected that year as the Bruce & Jacqueline Scholarship winner.  This spring he graduated from the Univeristy of Michigan with a BS in Honors Microbiology and a minor in Science, Technology, and Society. While at UM, he worked in Dr. David Sherman’s lab at the Life Sciences Institute studying natural product biosynthesis, or how microbes make complex compounds that are promising pharmaceuticals.  He was also very involved with the Inter-Cooperative Council as the Vice President of Sustainability during his senior year.

Adam has now started a dual degree program at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to get a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a MS in Epidemiology.  After graduate school he plans to continue a research career in academia focusing on an infectious diseases of significant global health importance.

Asked about his thoughts about his college experience, he says “I’m extremely grateful for my time at UM and all of the opportunities that went with it. Being able to learn from and work with people at the top of their field has inspired as well as enabled me to pursue a career in biomedical research. I surely would not be where I am today if I had not gone to UM.   And, I can’t recommend the school and life in Ann Arbor enough to anyone.”