Kaitlin Mahr Memorial Fund | One-of-a-Kind Scholarship
This scholarship is for a dancer facing extreme hardship and who is overcoming adversity through dance. It is a rare scholarship for rare situations and, in the spirit of Kaitlin, is reserved for dancers who are uniquely themselves. It provides up to $25,000 in funding.
Kaitlin’s love of dance began at age 4. She had it all: technique, grace, discipline, and the drive to succeed. But even with all that she had to be herself. Let’s face it; she wasn’t your typical ballerina! The ballet dress code consists of pink tights, black leotard and pink point shoes. Not Katie. She would show up to class in torn pink tights, black leotard and multicolored striped socks and pointe shoes. Over her dancing career she would continue wearing those torn tights, a black tutu and red pointe shoes that we colored with a magic marker. Katie continued to dance until she left to go to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She felt a void in her life at college since she didn’t have the opportunity to dance very much. Dancing had been a large part of her life for so long. Katie did dance with the Malee Dance Troupe at Lawrence, but it just wasn’t the same. While attending Lawrence she developed a mental illness, bipolar disorder. Katie lost her battle with depression on November 19, 2007. Through our terrible grief and loss we have to believe she is “Forever Dancing.”