Knierim Scholarships Awarded to Local Students

The Knierim Scholarships were established to honor the life and work of Dr. FM Knierim and his wife, Bernice, who was one of the first families to practice medicine for the men who built Fort Peck Dam in the Dirty Thirties. This year the scholarship committee is honoring five former graduates of Glasgow High School who are pursuing their aspirations and dreams, even beyond an undergraduate degree.

Trevor Toavs, now a third-year medical student in Providence, R.I. at Brown University, was a summer intern at Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital several years ago. He volunteered with Habitat for Humanity while attending school in Bozeman and was a volunteer track and field coach at Nashua High School in 2021. He is conducting research to learn about the challenges rural health care providers face when caring for patients with infectious diseases in underserved populations. He intends to specialize in internal medicine and hopes to work in rural Montana upon the completion of his medical studies.

Tanner Overby, a more recent graduate of Glasgow High School now living in North Carolina, is entering his senior year at Brigham Young University and planning to graduate in Biomedical Science. He is starting to apply to medical schools which is an expensive and exhausting process. He is hoping to be accepted into the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, where his parents now reside and possibly specialize in orthopedic medicine.

McKenna Strommen is compressing her undergraduate study at Montana State University into a few short years before entering law school. She has accepted an internship at a law firm in Phoenix, Ariz., for next summer before she enters law school. She has been a familiar face at Sam and Jeff's Bar, the Sunnyside Golf Course and the Clerk of Courts office earning her way through school.

Ellis McKean will begin his first year at the University of San Francisco in a Master of Public Health program, following his graduation from the University of Montana this past spring. He is an elite runner who competed with distinction for the Montana Grizzlies during his four years at Missoula and now is running for the University of San Francisco. He is particularly interested in mental health and telehealth as part of his emphasis in this program.

Victoria Pehlke, daughter of Jessica and Michael Pehlke, will enter her junior year in Business Administration and English at the University of Montana Western in Dillon. She was active in the hockey program for several years and still officiates youth hockey for state and local tournaments. She admits to a passion of reading and writing and one day hopes to be a published author.