Scared but decently confident

Recently, the University of Wyoming announced the 101 recipients of the Trustees' Scholar Award. One of those recipients was Saratoga Middle High School's Katelyn Bifano, who was first notified about applying for the scholarship in 2020.

"I got an email for the application process in the first week of December. So I had to write a whole bunch of short answers (to) questions and submit my resume and a signature of recommendation from my counselor," said Katelyn. "After that, they emailed me back in January and they invited me to come do a video interview with them. After that I had to wait a couple weeks. They sent me another letter that said I had received it. So it was like a two month process in total."

Most people would likely be a bundle of nerves during that two month process, from application to interview to notification. While Katelyn admits that she was a little nervous, she also was confident in herself.

"I actually have a lot of personal friends that have gotten it, people that I've just crossed paths with and still keep in touch with, and they told me it wasn't too bad of a procedure and a process. So, I was pretty confident," Katelyn said. "I did a lot of research and I looked up people that got it last year and what their ACT was and their GPA. I was scared but I was decently confident."

According to an earlier press release from the University of Wyoming, the average ACT score of all the recipients was 32 and the average Grade Point Average (GPA) was 3.97. Katelyn, is just slightly above average. She currently holds a 4.0 GPA at Saratoga Middle High School and scored 33 on her ACT.

That score didn't come easy, however. What may appear from the outside to come effortlessly, Katelyn said takes a lot of studying, hard work and "you kind of got to be labeled as a nerd, honestly."

"The first time I took the ACT I got a 30 but I knew that wasn't going to be good enough so I ended up taking my ACT book home and I had a whole bunch of apps on my phone that had ACT practice questions," said Katelyn. "I spent a lot of time doing that. So it kind of looks just like a 'gifted' kind of thing, like only certain people can do it but it took a lot of studying and a lot of practice and a lot of hard work." 

According to the senior, one of the driving factors to pursuing this scholarship was a classic case of sibling rivalry. Katelyn's brother, Bradley, is set to graduate this year while she will enter college next year.

"I wanted to do it so that I could one-up my brother actually, just show that maybe I could work a little harder," Katelyn said. "He's about to graduate and I'm going into college and my big thing was I want to be valedictorian when he just fell short so that I could have a little bit to brag about." 

Bragging rights secured.

While the university had sent out a letter through the postal service to Katelyn notifying her of the award, it was actually her counselor, Amy Johnston, who had informed her of the achievement.

"She was actually the one to tell me because they sent her an email but they sent me physical mail and it didn't get here on time," said Katelyn. "So she was the one that came out with the printed out email and congratulated me and told me she was really proud of me. So that was awesome."

Johnston isn't the only one proud of Katelyn. According to her, both her parents-Rob and Lisa Bifano-are proud as well. An added benefit to achieving such a prestigious scholarship is that, as long as Katelyn can maintain her grades, all her schooling at the University of Wyoming will be paid for, an academic full-ride.

The senior is quick to admit that she couldn't have done this alone, however. 

"I just have a lot of people to thank. Teachers and family and friends because a lot of people supported me to this point," Katelyn said. "I'm really grateful to  have a strong support system."

To keep the UW Trustees Award, she must maintain continuous full-time enrollment of at least 12 semester hours during the fall and spring semesters along with a cumulative 3.0 GPA.