Holly Vander Heiden, Kaukauna, is the recipient of one of the premier scholarships at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Vander Heiden received the Kathrin "Kitty" Saunders Sebold Scholarship worth a full year�s tuition. The award was presented recently at the UWSP Distinguished Alumnus and Alumni Service Awards luncheon in Stevens Point.

The daughter of Roger and JoAnn Vander Heiden, 2408 Joan Court, Kaukauna, she is a 1998 graduate of Kaukauna High School. She is a junior at UWSP majoring in forest management and urban forestry with a minor in soil science and holds a 3.5 grade point average.

"I greatly appreciate everything Mr. Sebold has done for UWSP and the students here," Vander Heiden said. "This scholarship takes a huge burden off my shoulders."

The Sebold scholarship is intended to reward an outstanding UWSP student who demonstrates high potential for becoming a leader in a chosen field or profession. D. David "Dewey" Sebold, Medford, former president and CEO of Tombstone Pizza, established the award in memory of his wife, Kitty, who was a social worker. Both Kitty and Dewey graduated from UWSP in 1968.

An outdoorswoman all her life, Vander Heiden sought a field of study that would give her a career where she would not be confined to an office. She chose to come to UWSP because of the opportunities in the College of Natural Resources.

Vander Heiden�s activities range from helping supervise a chainsaw safety class last fall to baking for fund-raising events. "I feel very strongly about campus participation," she says. "Involvement in campus organizations is a great way to learn things, meet people and make lifelong connections."

Vander Heiden was treasurer for the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and now serves as the group�s vice president. She was on the Student Advisory Panel for the SAF national convention in Portland, Ore., in 1999 and in Washington, D.C., in 2000. She has coordinated the forestry banquet for the past two years.

Vander Heiden represented UWSP at the National Game of Logging Competition last year. She is certified as a wildland fire fighter and has helped with a number of wild fires and prescribed burns.

She also has been active in the Student Society of Aboriculture, Women in Natural Resources, the Ski and Snowboard Club, residence hall governance and intramural volleyball.

She holds two work study positions in the College of Natural Resources as a coordinator of the Peer Advising Office and administrative assistant in the college office.

Vander Heiden previously received the SAF Treehaven Scholarship, the National Garden Club Federation Scholarship and the Henry C. Kurtz Memorial Scholarship. She is a member of Phi Eta Sigma honor society.

The Sebold scholarship will pay for her tuition, but Vander Heiden says she will continue to work part time to pay for her housing and transportation. One of her summer jobs was on a forest survey for a timber company associated with Georgia Pacific. Among her tasks was helping search for Karner Blue butterflies, an endangered species.

She held a position last summer as an urban forestry technician with the village of Howard in Brown County. She worked with forestry crews, installed landscape material, pruned trees and operated small machinery. She has worked at Vande Hey�s Landscape Center in Appleton during semester breaks and the summer of 1999 as a clerk and landscape technician. She began work with the firm as a high school student on a cooperative program.

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NOTE TO EDITOR: Kitty Sebold�s name is spelled "Kathrin," please do not change the spelling.