Kendal Bergman is a mining engineering student at the U who also finds time to play on the women’s softball team, volunteer at an elementary school garden, and regularly help at annual campus events, including Engineering Day, Science Day, and Plazafest.
During the 2011-12 academic year, Kendal was named Outstanding Freshman by the Department of Mining Engineering. The following fall, she was invited to be a teaching assistant, an unusual assignment for someone who so recently completed their freshman year.
“Having parents with geology degrees, I was able to combine my interests in engineering with my parents’ academic backgrounds. Best decision I ever made!” says Kendal.
In the spring of 2013, Kendal was one of 11 undergraduate students to receive a coveted Rio Tinto Kennecott Scholarship.
The Kennecott Scholarships were founded in 1991 to promote and recognize exceptional academic achievement by students from the colleges of Engineering, Mines & Earth Sciences, and the David Eccles School of Business. The application process is rigorous and requires two rounds of interviews, maintaining a 3.0 grade point average, and involvement in community and school service projects. Each scholar receives an award of $6,000 and is eligible to apply to live at Kennecott House in Fort Douglas, the academic residence for Kennecott Scholars since 1994. They also have an opportunity to be considered for a paid summer internship with Rio Tinto Kennecott.
Hoping to receive a summer internship with the company, Kendal asked her teachers for letters of recommendation, updated her resume, and submitted her application. “I had some mining classes under my belt but no work experience, and I had never spent a prolonged period of time in a mine. Who was going to hire me as an intern?” says Kendal.
In the summer of 2013, Kendal received an internship and served as an operations engineer in the Production Support Department at Kennecott Utah Copper’s Bingham Canyon Mine. “I never would have fully understood my passion for mining engineering if it hadn’t had been for that internship,” says Kendal.
This past April, Kendal was the student speaker at the 25th annual Celebration of Scholars awards program honoring the newest group of Rio Tinto Kennecott Scholars who start this fall. The 19 undergraduate student leaders—nine women and 10 men—met with U administration, including President David W. Pershing, Ruth Watkins, senior vice president for academic affairs, and key Rio Tinto Kennecott leadership.
“We are proud to support hard-working students like Kendal who are achieving academic excellence in engineering and business,” says Nigel Steward, Rio Tinto Kennecott managing director. “Our support will continue to develop the pipeline of talent that our industry will require and reward students for their tremendous achievements.”
During the past 25 years, Rio Tinto Kennecott has given nearly $2.5 million to its scholarship recipients, many of whom have gone on to gain employment with the company.
In addition to the scholarship program, Rio Tinto Kennecott has supported numerous important initiatives on campus for the past 50 years, including significant gifts to the Natural History Museum of Utah, the College of Engineering Kennecott Building, the School of Medicine, and the Frederick A. Sutton Building for Geology and Geophysics.
