News & Stories

Loppet Foundation Receives Grant to Provide Scholarships to Youth

November 8, 2016 (Minneapolis, MN) – Executive Director John Munger is excited to share that the Loppet Foundation received an important grant from Mayo Clinic to provide scholarship funding for five student athletes from Minneapolis to attend a week-long cross country ski training camp at the Yellowstone Ski Festival in West Yellowstone, Montana.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to offer scholarships for this camp. Athletes who come back from the camp often say that it was a life-changing experience,” said Munger.

The Mayo Clinic’s funding will provide the athletes with transportation, coaching, mentoring and equipment for their participation in Loppet Nordic Racing and the West Yellowstone Camp during the week of Thanksgiving.

The scholarship recipients are alumni from the Loppet Foundation’s Junior Loppet program, an after-school year-round program which introduces North Minneapolis youth to a lifestyle of outdoor activities. The Loppet currently runs programs in Anwatin Middle School, Franklin Middle School and Northeast Middle School.

Many of the athletes emerging from the Junior Loppet are talented and eager to move into Loppet Nordic Racing, the Loppet’s club team that has won the overall National Championship title for the last three consecutive years.

“We offer high-caliber training and camps because they are great for the students’ physical health, but also because our athletes develop leadership skills, a strong network, and the ability to see the connection between hard work and success,” said Loppet Nordic Racing Head Coach Piotr Bednarski. “We are helping them realize that they have the same capabilities as talented athletes from across the country.”

The following are the names of the scholarship recipients: Tome Vang, Quinlan Brogdon, Sherman Powell, Emily Kral, Brad Hooper.

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy that the needs of the patient come first. Over 3,000 physicians and scientists and 46,600 allied staff work at Mayo which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Mayo Clinic also serves more than 70 communities through the Mayo Clinic Health System. Collectively, these locations treat more than half a million people each year. For more information, visit: www.mayoclinic.org