b'2003 State of Washington Scholarship RecipientScholarship FoundationWhere is Shannon Schmoll Now? by Kathy Michaelis, SFShannon Schmollwas the WPMA Scholarship recipient for the State of Washington in 2003. She graduated from Henry WPMA Scholarship Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington in June 2003 with a Coordinator 3.98 GPA, while participating in the International Baccalaureate Program along with several school clubs, including National Honor Society, Key Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, the Chess Club and the Russian Club, holding leadership positions in each. Shannon took four years of Russian in high school, competing and earning gold and silver medals for three years in the National Russian Essay contest and the Olympiada of Spoken Russian. She traveled to Russia in the winter of 2003 to continue her studies of the language and the Russian people,Shannon Schmolland wrote that it was the most amazing experience of her life, Washington Stateand the coldest cold she had ever experienced!Recipient 2003Shannon played the violin for six years and performed with the Tacoma String Philharmonia and the Tacoma Junior Symphony.School. She applied for the WPMA Schol-As a sophomore she became heavily involved in the dramaarship through Pacific Northwest Energy program, and participated in over eight productions, holdingCompany in Tacoma, where her father the lead in several. worked as a fleet fueler.Her desire to help others and support her community ledFollowing her graduation from high Shannon to volunteer at the Fircrest Kiwanis Club and inschool, Shannon began her undergraduate numerous local community events while at Henry Foss Highstudies at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she majored in both Physics and Astronomy, pursuing a career in researching theoretical physics within an international community. During her studies, she gained experience in using the universitys planetarium as a teaching tool. She also participated in a five-week study abroad program in Rome, Italy, where she studied western civilization. In 2007, Shannon graduated from the University of Washington with a double Bachelor ofScience Degree in Physics and Astronomy. Shannon continued on to graduate school at the University of Michigan with the intention of getting a PhD in astrophysics (Photo by Jenn Osborne)and then moving on to a career in research. However, she soon found she was more interested in education and outreach, particularly working in museums or plan-etariums. The University of Michigan had two planetariums on campus, so she had ample opportunity to explore this interest. Shannon with husband Chris and daughters Veda (7) and Thora (3) Shannon changed her major following her second year of graduate school, pursu-54 www.wpma.com / Autumn 2020'