Press Release
Contact:
Judith Harrington
Public Relations Committee Chair
Cedar Falls Community Foundation
PO Box 546, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Judith.Harrington@uni.edu
December 7, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Attached: photos of Alexis Kritenbrink, Paige LaPlant and Zach McGill
Cedar Falls Community Foundation Announces Scholarship Recipients
The Cedar Falls Community Foundation has announced that three scholarships will be awarded
Spring Semester 2016 from the Robert Eller Study Abroad Endowment.
The Robert Eller Study Abroad Endowment was established by emeritus UNI Education Media
Specialist Robert Eller to foster the educational, professional and personal growth of an undergraduate
student at the University of Northern Iowa by providing funds to support a semester or a year of study
outside the United States for students whose previous travel and study abroad experiences have been
limited. Applications are accepted by the Study Abroad Center and reviewed by the University of Northern
Iowa Emeritus Association scholarship committee.
Spring Semester 2016 scholarships have been awarded to Alexis Kritenbrink, Paige LaPlant and
Zach McGill each in the amount of $1,500.00.
Alexis Kritenbrink is a junior from Lytton, Iowa, studying Communicative Sciences and Disorders at
the University of Northern Iowa. Her study abroad will be at the University of Newcastle in Australia, which
offers courses that she could not find elsewhere. Alexis said, “I will get to see the differences between the
views and practices of speech language pathologists in the United States versus in Australia. It will be
beneficial to have experience working with people with different dialects and accents because I will see a
lot of that in my future career as a speech pathologist. I am excited to eventually be able to take the
knowledge I will learn in Australia and combine it with what I have already learned here at UNI.”
Paige LaPlant is a sophomore from Sioux City, Iowa, studying Earth and Environmental Sciences
at UNI. Paige’s study abroad program will take her to Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.
Paige noted, “My majors, Earth Science and Environmental Science, are very dependent on field
experiences and careful observation of the world, rather than the textbook. My career goal is to be a
geologist and New Zealand is full of geological findings: caves, glaciers, mountains, volcanoes, an active
fault line, and more.” Paige plans to fully immerse herself in the New Zealand culture, and believes her
Anthropology minor will benefit from learning about the country’s unique history and culture.
Zachary McGill is a junior at the University of Northern Iowa, a native of Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Zachary’s study abroad will also take place at the University of Newcastle, in Australia. Zachary is excited
about experiencing a new culture and looking forward to a diverse class schedule while in Australia. An
English major, Zach said, “I look forward to absorbing this new atmosphere while studying in my field –
picking up on new idiosyncrasies of a language similar, yet linguistically different from my own.”
The Cedar Falls Community Foundation accepts and manages estate gifts and donations to fulfill
donor’s wishes and to support projects that enhance the community’s quality of life through cultural,
scholarly, recreational, literary and artistic endeavors.
For more information about the Cedar Falls Community Foundation, please visit
www.cf-communityfoundation.org or contact 319.243.9170 or cfcf@cfu.net.