Three students, Nathanael “Nate” Hinton, Robert Klevgard, and Eric Beilman, will receive $2,000 in scholarship funds at the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame’s (WAHF) annual induction banquet this fall.
Hinton will receive the $1000 Carl Guell Memorial Scholarship, named in memory of WAHF’s founder. Hinton is enrolled in the Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic program at Fox Valley Technical College in Oshkosh. He chose the A&P program to help him in his goal of becoming a missionary pilot in Africa.
Klevgard is the recipient of the $500 Jerome Ripp Memorial Scholarship. An A&P student at Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville, Klevgard’s goal is to become a commercial pilot. “This is great; I’m also working toward my instrument and commercial and this will definitely help,” he said.
Jerome Ripp was the former owner of the Waunakee Airport. The Ripp family and members of the Waunakee Pilots Association initiated the scholarship in 2007 after his death.
Beilman, also an A&P student at Blackhawk, was chosen as the 2009 recipient of the $500 Thiessen Field Scholarship. An Air Force veteran who worked on A-10s and F-16s, Beilman’s goal is to become “one of the best on-call helicopter specialists in the area,” he said.
Jerome Thiessen, an airplane builder and restorer in Baraboo, founded the Thiessen Field Scholarship in 2005. “This scholarship is my small way to pass on my love for aviation,” said Thiessen. “I hope it will inspire others to contribute to the WAHF scholarship fund, or perhaps to create a scholarship in their own name.”
WAHF will award the scholarships at its 24th annual induction banquet Oct. 17 at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh. Five Wisconsin aviators — John Jerstad, Paul Johns, Gilles Meisenheimer, Lavern Reller, and Gunter Voltz — will be inducted at the banquet.
The Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame has inducted more than 90 men and women since its inaugural ceremony in 1985. Its mission is to collect and preserve the history of aviation in Wisconsin, recognize those who made that history, inform others of it, and promote aviation education.
For more information: AviationHallOfFameWisconsin.com or call Keith Glasshof at 715-832-6379.
