2006 Scholarship Recipient

Co-op Member Overcomes Challenges and Earns Student Scholarship

Scholarship winner Jessica Meier

Scholarship winner Jessica Meier enjoys riding horses and playing sand volleyball. She is also active
with Students Against Destructive Decisions at Century High School
in Bismarck.

For the past 15 years, Basin Electric Power Cooperative has awarded student scholarships to children of member cooperative consumers, member cooperative employees, and Basin Electric and subsidiary employees.

This year, more than 160 scholarships will be awarded, including 120 to children of member cooperative consumers, 20 to children of Basin Electric or subsidiary employees, and 20 to the children of member cooperative employees. In addition, each member cooperative will receive a $1,000 scholarship to award to a dependent of a consumer member.

Jessica Meier, senior at Century High School, received the $1,000 scholarship as a consumer member of Capital Electric Cooperative. She worked with the school counselor and secretary to fill out scholarship applications, and hoped she would qualify for financial assistance.

“I have a lot of school ahead of me and I’m just trying to pay for some of it of as soon as I can,” she says.

Meier will attend Bismarck State College for one year to study basic courses and save money. She plans to transfer to the University of North Dakota, where she will study premedicine.

Clearly affectionate with the family Labrador, Mylo, and their two cats and four horses, Meier says she wanted to be a veterinarian since kindergarten. Her plans changed her second week into her sophomore year, when she was diagnosed with cancer.

Suffering from aches and chills, doctors checked her for West Nile virus and mononucleosis. A bone marrow sample sent to Tennessee eventually confirmed that Meier was suffering from leukemia.

Treatment included chemotherapy and brain radiation. Meier finished the chemo this past January and is now in “maintenance,” or less intense therapy. She says she’s felt well for almost a year, but still receives checkups every four weeks.

Because of the illness and treatment, she missed most of her sophomore year in school. But with the help of her teachers, a tutor and her parents, Meier was able to keep up with her studies.

While she still loves animals, she says she recently decided to study medicine that would help people instead of pets, to serve a greater purpose.

“In working with my doctors, I felt called to work in medicine, and to work with kids,” she says.

Jessica is the daughter of Randy and Lori Meier, and sister to Brian and Alyssa. The Meiers have been members of Capital Electric Cooperative for 19 years.