By Katy TerBerg
A soon-to-be-new addition to WMU’s student body has chosen geography as her field of study, and will get a substantial boost toward her educational costs from a local endowment.

Kaytlyn Witgen will study geography at WMU in the fall.
Kaytlyn Witgen has been awarded a $20,00 scholarship to study geography at WMU this fall. Witgen is a recipient of the Mary Upjohn Meader Scholarship, anĀ endowment which provides awards each year to three incoming freshmen planning to study geography. Criteria for the scholarship include an ACT score of 26 and a high school GPA of 3.7.
Witgen, who will graduate from Perry High School in Perry, Mich. this spring, has received a Mary Upjohn Meader Scholarship. Named after the late Mary Upjohn Meader, a groundbreaking aviator, photographer and philanthropist, the scholarship is designed to cover the costs of coursework in the fields of geography, community and regional planning, and tourism and travel.
Witdgen has been active in multiple extracurricular activities at Perry High, including symphonic band, pep band, marching band, drumline, student council, drama, and tutoring both math and music.
WMU’s Department of Geography is the second largest department of geography in Michigan, and among the top 5 percent of schools in the nation. It has been part of the WMU science curriculum for more than 100 years and is a leader in geographic information systems, community and regional planning, and environmental and resource management.