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Murphy receives Jeff Wattenmaker scholarship through Far West Masters

Staff report

Sylas Wright / Sierra Sun

The Far West Masters Scholarship Program awarded Morganne Murphy the 2013 Jeff Wattenmaker $10,000 college scholarship.  

Jeff Wattenmaker was an avid Masters ski racer who supported the Far West Masters Scholarship Program and its ideals. Prior to his recent passing, he generously arranged to donate funds to expand the Masters Scholarship Program and to make available funding for a university education to members of the Program.

Murphy graduated from Forest Charter High School in Truckee and will attend Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire in the fall.  She has been sponsored by the Masters Scholarship Program the past four years.



She is a nationally ranked FIS alpine ski racer on the Squaw Valley Ski Team and competes internationally in skier cross as well. Murphy sustained a season-ending knee injury last year and with hard work and persistence recovered to come back stronger than ever. She graduated at the top of her class and has served on the Board of Directors for Far West Skiing as the athlete representative the past two years.

The Far West Masters Scholarship Program is finishing its 21st year of raising funds to benefit Far West Junior ski racers.  They have raised more than three quarters of a million dollars during that time. All money raised is distributed with no overhead to Far West Junior Athletes. Their goal is to promote academic scholarship, citizenship and leadership within the ski racing community and to keep athletes involved in ski racing that might not otherwise have a chance without financial support.



A majority of sponsored athletes have gone on to college, many on ski and scholastic scholarships. The U.S. Ski Team currently has many scholarship alumni currently competing, including Tahoe-area racers Marco Sullivan, Stacey Cook, Tim Jitloff, Travis Ganong, Forrest Peterson, Mark Engel and Lila Lapanja.

The Jeff Wattenmaker Scholarship is to be used towards college expenses. It is given out yearly to a member of the Far West Masters Scholarship Program. To be eligible, athletes must be a member of the scholarship program and accepted to an accredited junior college, university or vocational school for the coming fall.

Applications for the Far West Masters Scholarship Program for 2013-14 will soon be available on the Far West web site, http://www.fwskiing.org, and on the Masters website, http://www.farwestmasters.org, and will be due on Sept. 15, 2013.


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