Keeping memories alive Scholarships help out many

Matthew Hartmann dreamed of traveling the world and then attending medical school.

Having been accepted to Creighton’s medical school he was planning a trip to New Zealand and Australia. He made the airline reservations for the trip.

But on the night of July 4, as he was crossing a road in northern Minnesota, he was struck and killed by a drunken driver.

As his parents, Doug and Kathleen, established a scholarship in Matthew’s honor with the Fremont Area Community Foundation. It’s one of 39 such scholarships handled through the organization.

Last year those scholarships totaled $25,850, Tom Thomsen, president of the foundation’s board, told members of the Legacy Society Wednesday night at the Fremont Golf Club.

The Legacy Society consists of those who have included the Fremont Area Community Foundation in their estate planning.

Thomsen introduced two of the scholarship winners, including the first recipient of the Matthew Hartmann Memorial Scholarship.

“I feel really honored to be the first recipient of this scholarship,” said Mallory Iseminger. “I think it’s really neat that the family took such a tragic event and tried to make something positive out of it.”

Iseminger is a Fremont High School graduate who, like Matthew, competed in cross country and carried a 4.0 grade point average.

“He was very interested in academics from the time he was in kindergarten all the way through,” Doug Hartmann said of his son. “He was just very excited about school.

“We found Mallory has a lot in common with our son Matt,” he added. “The thing that really drew us to Mallory was her essay (which is part of the application). She talked about how she has persevered through some hard times and learned from that.”

The other scholarship

recipient was Hilary Mechan, who received the Rodney and Amy Mueller-Johnson Memorial Scholarship.

“Without (the scholarship) I probably would be stressing out and pretty concerned about paying for college,” she said. “Without scholarships, for some, college seems impossible. I’m part of that club.”

Mechan will attend Wayne State College in the fall. Iseminger will attend Nebraska Wesleyan.