The second week of September rolls around, and Alycia Klegstad and Isaac Nelson are told that something has been messed up with their meal plans. Both are told to come to the front office to fix the issue that had popped up. Instead of a stressful time fixing their meal plans, they were surprised with a certificate stating they’d been awarded a scholarship from famous country musician, Luke Bryan.
Bryan gave Winona State University (WSU) $8,000 worth of scholarship money. In the past, Bryan has given other schools like University of Wisconsin-Madison scholarship money and even sold his truck to give money to charity to help support local communities.
“Luke Bryan made a commitment to give some of the proceeds from his Farm Tour to local Universities to support students who come from farming or agriculture families.” Jen Jonsgaard, the WSU Scholarship Coordinator said.
The money that Bryan donated has been divided into two $4,000 scholarships that have been awarded to two students this past week. Both fourth-year Klegstad and first-year Nelson were given not only the scholarship but were also surprised with two tickets each for Bryan’s upcoming tour.
It was absolutely shocking to both students receiving the scholarship as they originally came to the office under the assumption that they needed to fix something with their meal plan. Instead of being greeted with the stress of trying to fix their meal plans, they received excitement and shock due to the scholarship announcement.
“This guy was recording me, and they went through their spiel saying you got this scholarship,” Klegstad said. “I literally just stood there like, ‘You sure that’s right? That’s my name?’”
Due to the fact there was no application process, it was very surprising for the students when they found out about the award. With the random selection of deserving students, as well as being called upon regarding a completely different issue, it left both students with so many questions.
“I was pretty confused at first as I had no clue that the scholarship existed,” Nelson said. “But I was definitely super grateful to be selected, and I was pretty stoked about the tickets as well.”
The concert tickets were a bonus on top of being given the scholarship and both students were equally grateful for the scholarship and the tickets to see the show.
“I am excited, I guess you could say, and I’m especially thankful to Luke Bryan,” Klegstad said.
That day, Klegstad and Nelson didn’t just leave with tickets to a concert, they left with funds for their future—with one student about to reach the end of their time at WSU to one who is just starting it.
