St. Michael-Albertville Grad Awarded Cargill Scholarship

The National Merit Scholarship program has awarded a scholarship sponsored by Cargill to local student, Austin Stepp, a 2012 graduate of Saint Michael- Albertville High School. Austin will attend the University of Minnesota this fall where has been accepted in to the College of Science and Engineering’s Honors program.  Scholarship recipients are selected based on test scores, as well as academic achievement, extracurricular activities and leadership.

Stepp was recently named a National Merit Finalist and is one of 9,700 high school seniors selected from more than 1.5 million applicants to receive a scholarship through the National Merit Scholarship program. Through this program, he will receive a $4,000 Cargill-sponsored scholarship – $1,000 each year for up to four years of undergraduate study.

“Congratulations to Austin and our best wishes to all our local
graduates,” said Brenda Knapp-Polzin Technology Manager at Cargill Kitchen Solutions in Monticello. “Cargill supports education programs in our communities; because today’s young people are tomorrow’s leaders.”

This year, Cargill sponsored 50 scholarships for children of U.S. Cargill employees (Austin’s mom, Brenda Stepp is employed at the facility in Monticello), including ten through the National Merit Scholarship program.