New scholarship at UW-L honors student posthumously

Kimberly Graham was given extraordinary degree

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — More than 500 UW-L students will be awarded nearly $500,000 in scholarships for their academic achievements.

Those awards were handed out at UW-La Crosse’s Student Scholarship Reception Monday evening.

One scholarship that stood out was in honor of recent UW-L graduate Kimberly Graham.

Graham was attending UW-L for radiation therapy when a rare childhood cancer came back. With an unfavorable outlook, she was given an extraordinary degree during commencement in May 2013.

Graham passed away just about 6 weeks ago.

In memory of all that Graham contributed to UW-L, her parents created a special scholarship honoring the academic excellence of one student.

“We wanted to do something here at UW-L in her memory and in her honor because she loved this school. She loved her professors here, the staff, the students. She made so many great friendships here, and so we absolutely wanted to do something very special here at UW-L, because not only was it special to Kimberly, but it’s a very special place to us too,” said Kimberly’s mom Dawn.

The recipient of the scholarship is a radiation therapy student who is also a childhood cancer survivor.