Makenzi Hansen, one of $1,000 scholarship winners spoke to our club. Makenzi graduated from Lincoln East High School and plans to major in computer science at Nebraska Wesleyan starting this fall. This school year, Makenzi, did all her schooling through ZOOM, or on the computer. She did not make an appearance at East High until her graduation day. Makenzi was raised by her grandparents, Rita and Greg McClure, along with her two sisters and one brother. Her oldest sister is a teacher at Lincoln Northeast High School, and this year was a challenge. Her brother is in the Marines and just returned home from being stationed in Jordan. Her other sister, has not quite decided what she wants to do yet, but continues to work. Her grandmother, Rita, was a school nurse for LPS and retired three years ago, but was called back this past year and plans to continue to work as a nurse. This summer she will be working as a nurse for the Bright Lights program at Holmes Elementary. Grandfather, Greg, worked for Burlington Northern.
Makenzi will be living on the Wesleyan campus during her education. She happens to have a full ride for college, which she is happy about. She also studied French all four years of high school and one day like to go to France and get into gaming. Makenzi enjoys playing video games, and would maybe like to do some programming with video games and see them through to fruition.
When she was 15 Makenzi started a non-profit called Makenzi's Closet. She collects slightly used clothing, washing them, and either donates them to underprivileged people across Lincoln. She sometimes gets paid for those clothes and so far she has raised for herself about $4,500.