Caroline Furmanski

ESCANABA — The 16th-annual Laura M. Hivala Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to Caroline Furmanski, a 2025 graduate of Escanaba Area High School.

Furmanski, the daughter of Mike Furmanski, is attending Michigan Technological University in Houghton, where she plans to major in robotics engineering.

Furmanski was highly involved in extracurriculars at EHS, participating in robotics and the performing arts. In the RoboMos, she scouted at robotics competitions; her musical and theatrical experience included musicals, marching band, solo and ensemble, jazz band, winter drum line and piano accompaniment.

The Laura M. Hivala Scholarship is given annually to an Escanaba graduate pursuing higher education at MTU. Hivala was a 1996 graduate of EHS who received a Presidential Scholar Award to attend MTU and obtained her degree in environmental engineering in 2000. She belonged to the MTU Alumni Association and was living in Kentucky, where she worked for Terracon Consulting Engineers and Scientists, before her death in 2010.