LUSK – On Thursday, May 6, the Niobrara County Homemakers Club held their Spring Tea event at the Niobrara County Fairgrounds.

During the event, the Homemakers honored their three scholarship recipients and awarded them with their scholarships.

The first scholarship recipient was senior Ryan Brugger from Niobrara County High School. After graduation, Brugger said he plans to attend school at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, S.D.

“I’m going to attend South Dakota School of Mines and Technology,” Brugger said. “I plan to study metallurgical engineering and when I graduate, I want to work for an engineering company.”

Brugger said he would be interested in moving back to Lusk when he finishes college, but it all depends on whether he is able to find a job in his career field.

The next recipient was fellow senior at Niobrara County High School Bryn Bruch. When Bruch graduates, she plans to attend the University of Wyoming.

“I’m going to be attending the University of Wyoming in the fall,” Bruch said. “I’m going to study health science with a focus in kinesiology.”

After graduation, Bruch said she would like to return to Lusk and live on the ranch while working at the hospital. Some of the specialty areas she’s interested in working are pediatrics or family practitioner.

Both Brugger and Bruch have taken college courses online through Eastern Wyoming College during their senior year as a way to knock out some of their general courses before they head off to college.

Taking the college courses will give them a leg up on their classmates, but it has been a bit of an adjustment due to the pandemic.

“Learning to do online classes was kind of good for us though, we could learn in a new way,” Bruch said. “We also learned how to use our resources and kind of teach ourselves.”

“It also made us a little more independent because we were also taking college courses through EWC,” added Brugger.

The final scholarship recipient was Peyton Kottwitz, who is currently a student at Laramie County Community College (LCCC). She will be transferring to Texas Christian University (TCU) in the fall to attend their ranch management program. 

She was unable to be at the scholarship award presentation due to an internship she’s currently doing in Oklahoma, but her mother, Jennifer Kottwitz, was in attendance to accept the award on her behalf.

“TCU has a pretty prestigious ranch management program,” J. Kottwitz said. “They only accept 18 kids each year and she [Peyton] got accepted into it.”

Peyton’s mother said she could see her daughter one day coming back to Lusk, but that she has really enjoyed her time working at the ranch in Oklahoma. 

“She’s doing her internship in Oklahoma and really loves that place,” J. Kottwitz said. “It’s really opening her eyes to all the different things than what goes on just around here.”

Before the scholarships were presented, the LEMS Musical Hands performed a variety of patriotic songs for the group. Some of the songs that were performed were the National Anthem, God Bless the USA and a few other patriotic songs.

The event concluded with the presentation of various door prizes and with closing comments to the group.