The University Balloon Race Scholarship Committee has been in existence since 1986 and has awarded scholarship funds since the early 1990s. The University Balloon Race Scholarships have been distributed each year since 1999. The committee exists to raise money to award two scholarships a year: one to an undergraduate student and one to a graduate student.
The committee is pleased to announce Ashley Osborne as the graduate student recipient and Shane Kapala as the undergraduate student recipient for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Ashley Osborne is in her final year of the Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral program at the University of Nevada, Reno. As a counselor at Truckee Meadows Community College and the newly elected Graduate Student Committee chair for the National Career Development Association, she is passionate about providing interdisciplinary clinical, academic, and career counseling services to students and the community at large. Ashley volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada and is a long standing Nevada Promise mentor.
Shane Kapala is a public health major who will be applying to the Orvis School of Nursing this fall. He has a passion for working with at risk populations and is a mechanic/educator with the Kiwanis Bike program, where he teaches bike maintenance and safe riding skills to Reno/Sparks area youth. He hopes that a nursing degree will help him better serve the local community.
The University Balloon Race Scholarship Committee would like to congratulate Osborne and Kapala for their hard work and encourage everyone to attend the Great Reno Balloon Race at Rancho San Rafael Park Sept. 9-11, 2022. Attendees are encouraged to visit the University Balloon Race Scholarship Committee booth during the balloon races.
The University celebrates the beginning of The Great Reno Balloon Race with a balloon launch off the historic Quad, Thursday, Sept. 8, at 7 a.m.
2022 Balloon Race Pin
The 2022 University of Nevada, Reno Balloon Race Scholarship Committee Pin was designed by Leonardo Ramirez, a freshman majoring in Graphic Design here at the University. Leonardo grew up in Sparks and attended the Great Reno Balloon Races every year when he was growing up. The pin features a replica of the balloon used during the previous races in the background along with a new blue and silver balloon, named Winters Breeze. The blue and silver balloon is sponsored by the University of Nevada, Reno and will be a spectacular view in the sky during mass ascension.
