Three local students honored at MSU

Three Flathead Valley students were among 13 young women recently honored by the Montana State University Women’s Center for their community activism and leadership.

Karli Kusler and Emily Stoick, both Flathead High School graduates, and Molly Wright, a Glacier High School graduate, received 2016 Student of Achievement awards.

Kusler will complete her degree in political science and international relations, with a minor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, in May. While at MSU, she has been involved with the Diversity Awareness Office as a sustained dialogue coordinator. She has served as a peer leader for a University Studies Seminar class and as a core member of the Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity.

Kusler has volunteered for the American Red Cross and is a part of the National Society of Leadership and Success. She has attended national leadership summits focusing on sustained dialogue work in Washington, D.C.. After graduation, she will head to Ukraine for a 27-month commitment with the Peace Corps as a secondary education English teacher.

Stoick is majoring in the bio-resources option of MSU’s civil engineering department, with a minor in Hispanic studies. She will graduate in May. Stoick volunteers as a voter identifier, a “buddy” for international students, and has worked at both the Engineer-a-thon and Nano Days events to stimulate fifth- and sixth-graders’ interest in engineering.

Stoick is a classroom assistant for MSU’s Disability, Re-entry and Veteran Services Office to transcribe exams and assist differently abled students in the classroom. She is an Honors College student fellow, a teaching assistant and a tutor for environmental engineering. She plans to help impoverished and developing communities.

Wright will complete her degree in English in May. She has contributed to MSU by volunteering with the Victim Options In the Campus Environment Center, serving as co-president of Students Against Sexual Assault, working as a peer writing tutor at MSU’s Writing Center and as vice president of communications for Alpha Omicron Pi.

Wright also has worked as a marketing intern for Kalispell Regional Healthcare and as an assistant editor at Opsis Literary Arts Journal in Bozeman.

For her senior capstone, she researched the effectiveness of writing therapy as a useful tool for survivors of interpersonal violence. Wright plans to continue her research in graduate school, and ultimately wants to continue research around providing support and resources for survivors.