Hopefully this is just one small way for us to demonstrate that we believe in you, we’re grateful for the work that you do for the community today, and we look forward to the work you’re going to do for the community moving forward.”

Mayor Myron Bailey

The Cottage Grove Public Safety Board announced the winners of the 2024 Craig Woolery Scholarship at the city council meeting on June 5. The awards of $1,000 or more are given annually to young community-engaged residents pursuing post-secondary schooling in law enforcement, EMS, or firefighting. The application process, due May 1 of each year, requires interested Cottage Grove residents to submit an essay and a letter of recommendation for consideration. This year’s scholarship recipients are Avery Christopherson, Colin Schmit, Peyton Taylor, and Chris Vierling.
Cottage Grove Community Engagement Officer Ryan Pierre gave an outline of the Cottage Grove Public Safety Board (PSB) and its work, which includes the annual Craig Woolery Scholarship award. He introduced Julie Rice, the president of the PSB.
“We want to thank Justin and Kim Olsen for asking the board to present this scholarship to the community, and to raise funds for it,” said Rice. “The Lions Club, several board members, and other citizens of the community have donated funds so that we can give this scholarship award. This year we went in and looked at our funds, and we were able to give four scholarship winners the award this year, and each one of those awards is $1,500. All of them are pursuing a career in public safety.”
Rice noted that two of this year’s award winners began in the Cottage Grove Explorer program, guided by local police officers who help train students, ages 14-20, interested in local law enforcement, EMS, or firefighting careers.
“Two of our recipients are Avery Christopherson and Colin Schmit,” she said. “They were awarded their awards at the high school last week. They didn’t find out they got the award until that night. So now they’re getting an official scholarship presentation.”
Cottage Grove Community Service Officer Peyton Taylor was named next.
“She has a great positive attitude for her work, and she makes an effort to meet with the public and help them solve their problems. So, thank you, Peyton,” said Rice.
“Our fourth recipient,” Rice continued, “is already a member of the police and fire department as a paramedic, Chris Vierling.”
She said that he is continuing his schooling and training in life-saving efforts since his time joining EMS in 2016.
“We want to thank all of our recipients,” said Rice. “Continue with your career. Make us proud to have you as citizens of Cottage Grove, and hopefully you can return as police officers of Cottage Grove.”
Mayor Myron Bailey thanked Councilmember Justin Olsen for his work in creating the Craig Woolery scholarship.
“It’s going to help these young individuals to be able to have a career in law enforcement and fire/EMS,” he said.
Olsen said the intent of the scholarship program is to “have young people from the community pursuing a career in public safety get a leg up. I understand that school is very expensive; books are expensive. And then you have your post-training you have to do if you’re going to go into law enforcement.”
He concluded, “Hopefully this is just one small way for us to demonstrate that we believe in you, we’re grateful for the work that you do for the community today, and we look forward to the work you’re going to do for the community moving forward. Hopefully this is going to help you out a little bit.”