Viking Coca-Cola Bottling Company based out of St. Cloud, MN (represented locally through the River Falls branch) has created the Powerade 4 Schools Program. This program works with schools in a partnership fashion where a portion of any Powerade purchased by schools and their surrounding community are put into a fund which is then dispersed back to the schools at the end of each school year. A huge part of this program is the Athlete/ Student of the Year community voting scholarship. Staff from each school nominate seniors based on their involvement in school programs, leadership skills, community involvement, and extra curricular activities. Ellsworth’s Holly Carlson was proudly nominated as the embodiment of a young adult matching all these criteria. After getting selected past the first round out of Viking Coca-Cola’s River Falls branch it all came down to community voting where the Ellsworth community could go online and vote for Holly. Her attributes were proudly displayed at Nilssens Foods in Ellsworth with many posters and displays telling everyone to vote for Holly. With her community behind her Holly made it into the top five females (finishing third), winning a $1,000 scholarship. Holly plans on continuing her education at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where we all know she will continue to make her family and community proud. Pictured at her check presentation are (from left) Holly’s father Chris, Holly, sister Kaitlyn, mother Michele, and Coca-Cola Representative Jake Johnson.