Every year the Scandinavian Cultural Foundation awards a $1000 scholarship to a local high school senior who has demonstrated outstanding involvement with the Festival. This year the SCF is pleased to present the St. Lucia scholarship to Susan Dover.
Susan began participating in the Festival as a small child when her older siblings introduced her to the children’s dancing groups at age 4. Over the past twelve years, she has performed not only with the Community Children’s Dancers but also in year-round groups such as Nordurljos and Kansantansijat. She has also participated in some of the Festival’s nightly pageants. Although she didn’t make the choice to join herself she said she couldn’t be more grateful that her family decided to get her involved in an event that has had such a positive influence on her life.
In addition to dancing, Susan has faithfully helped volunteer at the Festival for the past 9 years. She particularly likes to assist with set up and tear down which she says she loves almost as much as dancing itself. She thoroughly enjoys getting to work with her dance groups as well as other community members to help get the Festival ready and to help put it away when it is over.
Some of Susan’s favorite memories of the Festival revolve around performing and participating in community dance and the pageant. She notes “I remember going to community dance for the first time in 2017 and feeling mesmerized by the amount of people running on stage and knowing I get to be part of something that brought so much enjoyment for the community.”
Susan’s two sisters are still involved in the Festival, one is a dancer and the other is a dance group instructor, and both are volunteers as well. In the future, she plans to continue learning dance and to contribute even more volunteer hours to the Festival she loves so much. Susan says that the Festival has had an incredible impact on her development and even credits it with getting her through a very difficult time in her life. She says that she has developed many important friendships through her involvement over the years and adds “I am so honored to have been chosen to receive a scholarship from the organization that has meant so much to me throughout my life.”
Susan plans to use her scholarship to pursue Spanish studies at Lane Community College in the fall. On the behalf of the Scandinavian Cultural Foundation, we would like to congratulate Susan on this achievement and thank her for her years of involvement with and service to the Scandinavian Festival.
The St. Lucia Scholarship is open to any graduating senior within the Junction City area who has been involved in the Festival through dancing, volunteering, or work. If you are interested in applying, an application form can be found on our website at: https://junctioncityscandia.org/scholarship
Written by: Cassie Wicks
