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Students of Higbee Scholarship presented to BHSU president

At the fall conference of the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), Dr. Walter Higee (center) and Dr. Patricia Fallbeck (right) presented the "Students of Higbee Scholarship Fund" monies to Black Hills State University President Dr. Thomas Flickema (left).

A scholarship fund created by special-education majors in 1991 was fully funded this fall and presented to Black Hills State University president Thomas Flickema.

At the fall conference of the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), Dr. Patricia Fallbeck and Walter Higbee (the scholarship's namesake) presented the "Students of Higbee Scholarship Fund" monies to the university president.

The original group of students majoring in special education decided to develop a scholarship to encourage and challenge future educators to meet the needs of people with disabilities. The group decided to name the scholarship fund after the individual who most "encouraged and challenged" them during their studies - Dr. Walter Higbee.

Higbee retired from the BHSU faculty in 1992 after 26 years of teaching education and special-education courses. He is remembered as the founder and developer of BHSU's special education program.

The students formed a board to determine how the scholarship should be developed and administered. The board consisted of Rick Moore, Sue Podoll, Pat Larsen, Nancy Clary, and Chris Walker. Higbee and his wife, Marion, were to serve on the board as well. Fallbeck was appointed executor of the fund and was to monitor its development until the fund reached $10,000. It was felt that the scholarship could sustain itself with that level of funding. The scholarship met its goal this fall and was presented to the BHSU president.

Fallbeck stated, "This is the only scholarship endowment that I know of that was totally conceived of and supported by students."

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