Two Cedar Falls Students Receive $35,000 Scholarships
For Immediate Release
May 13, 2008

Cedar Falls - Michelle Bamber and Briana McGeough are among five Iowa high school seniors to receive a Gold 2008 Matthew Shepard Scholarship worth approximately $35,000. The awards will be announced tonight at the Cedar Falls High School Awards Program at 7:00 pm.

This is the first time two students at one high school have received the scholarship which covers tuition, books and fees at an Iowa Board of Regents University and is renewable for up to four years.

Bamber and McGeough are both leaders at their school running meetings for the Cedar Falls High School Gay Straight Alliance as part of the Executive Board.

Bamber has been a leading advocate for students' rights to study in a non-discriminatory environment. She also has taken an active role in Marching Band, Speech Team, Jazz Band and the Tennis and Bowling Teams all while maintaining a 3.76 GPA.

McGeough has served on panels for teacher trainings, lead workshops at statewide conferences and lobbied legislators to expand Iowa's civil rights code all while staying at the top of her class with a 4.0 GPA.

Scholarship recipiencts will be honored at the Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Dinner in West Des Moines of Friday, June 6, 2008. Tickets may be purchased online at www.eychanerfoundation.org.

The Matthew Shepard Scholarship is named in memory of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming college student who was kidnapped in 1998, savagely beaten and left to die tied to a fence in freezing temperatures at the edge of town because he was gay.

The Scholarship honors openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Iowa high school students who work to promote tolerance and non-discrimination in their schools and communities.

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