‘A built-in study group’

Every year, we hear from successful scholarship recipients who nearly didn’t apply because they didn’t think they had a strong chance at actually being awarded.

At NMF, we believe that students must take advantage of all educational opportunities presented to them.

It’s a misconception that scholarships are only awarded to valedictorians and those with perfect grade-point averages. With more than 110 scholarships available, we encourage all students to apply to those scholarships for which they are eligible (based, for example, on their school district or potential field of interest), because you just never know how awards will be determined.

To illustrate this, we’re sharing here the story of the Balstad triplets: Trent, Faith, and Lance Balstad. All three Fosston High School graduates were studious students who juggled a variety of activities and athletics, and each earned scholarships in recognition of their achievements.

The cost of one child’s college tuition is hard to manage; for the Balstads, there were three entering college all at the same time. Trent, Faith, and Lance Balstad all graduated high school in 2000.

“Education is very important to my husband and I, so even from the time they were very little we were putting money aside for college for them,” said Lori Balstad. “The cost was a concern because there’s three.”

All their children, including Trisha, the triplets’ older sister, were encouraged to work hard in school.

“From the time they were very little we told them to get very involved in school, but the main thing is to do your best and keep your grades up high because that will help you get scholarships,” Lori said. “We pushed academics pretty hard.”

While they each ultimately earned high grades in high school, academics didn’t come equally easily to all of them. Since all three also took advantage of AP courses in high school, they all experienced both the challenge of college-level coursework and also the benefit of graduating high school with a few dozen college credits already earned.

“I had to study a lot,” Lance said. “I’m not a very good test taker. I could do all right on the homework, but when it came to taking tests, I would be studying for a couple of hours.”

“I definitely studied a lot,” Faith said. There’s no way I could have taken a test without studying and done well. But, also, I feel like it helped that we all three were in the same classes because we could study together.”

“Like a built-in study group,” Lance said.

That proved particularly beneficial once COVID-19 emerged.

“It was a lifesaver, Faith said. “We could do our classes together, use the same computer, or be in the same area together. It helped to keep the motivation going.”

Each scholarship was a win – not only for the teen who earned it, but for everyone.

“Us being siblings, it could be easy to be like, ‘Ugh, he got the scholarship,’ almost like, ‘I’m jealous,’” Faith said, “But if any of us got a scholarship, it was actually, “‘Okay, that’s super cool,’ because in the end it helps the whole family.”