Austin Area Foundation announces the newly established Rick Herreid Science Scholarship for STEM education
The Austin Area Foundation and the Science Fair Mentoring Project have announced their partnership in the establishment of the “Rick Herreid Science Scholarship.”
The scholarship will honor the memory of Rick Herreid, who died suddenly in 2019. Rick worked as a food scientist with Hormel Foods Corporation in the Research and Development department. After retiring, Rick
volunteered with the Science Fair Mentoring Project and served on its Board of Directors.
Rick was also a long-time member of a “Great Books” discussion group. His family believes he would
have found the following quote from Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley both inspiring and amusing. In
the novel, the professor M. Waldman is discussing the field of chemistry with his new student, Victor
Frankenstein.
“The ancient teachers of this science,’ said he, ‘promised impossibilities, and performed nothing. The
modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted, and that the elixir of
life is a chimera. But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes
to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles.”
Catherine Haslag, Scholarship Committee Chair for the Austin Area Foundation, is excited to add another
scholarship opportunity to the work the Austin Area Foundation does. “I think the Rick Herreid Science
Scholarship is an excellent way to honor Rick, his love of science, and support Mower County students
with dreams of working in a science field. We all need to help the generations coming behind us. This
scholarship will help meet this goal.”
The new scholarship will be offered in Spring 2025 and will be open to anyone with a high school
diploma who is a current Mower County resident or graduate of a Mower County high school (regardless
of current residency). Applicants must also have a 3.5 GPA and be enrolled in a 2- or 4-year
college/university with a declared science major.
Visit the Austin Area Foundation website at www.AustinAreaFoundation.org for more
information or to learn how to make a donation to support this scholarship.