Starting in 2025, SFM’s Bob Lund Scholarship will go from freshman to senior. Literally.

In 2022, SFM established the scholarship and partnered with Wallin Education Partners , a Minnesota-based nonprofit that serves high-potential students with financial need.

This spring, a fourth student will be selected for the Bob Lund Scholarship. Once the next school year begins this fall, four students — freshman, sophomore, junior and senior — will see their college careers helped along by SFM. The plan has been to support four students at a time.

“It’s amazing to see how committed SFM is to supporting the community,” said Kim Burandt, SFM Senior Project Manager, who helps coordinate the scholarship program. “We take pride in being a good corporate citizen and supporting underserved populations.”

The Bob Lund Scholarship provides college scholarships through the Wallin Scholars program — which has a mission to support college and career success for high-potential students from low-income backgrounds — as part of SFM’s effort to invest in future leaders and introduce them to careers in the insurance industry.

In addition to the scholarship funds, Wallin provides students with 1:1 advisement and career support. The organization also assists students in applying for other scholarships and state funding opportunities.

At the same time, SFM provides the students with gift baskets to help them get through the final weeks of their schooling and distributes information about internship opportunities at SFM. Members of SFM’s HR team also attend Wallin job fairs.

Initially, the scholarship was aimed at students looking to go into the insurance industry — “Insuring the future was our tagline at first,” Burandt said — but it has expanded to business, finance or actuarial fields.

SFM tracks the students’ progress and Burandt meets with Wallin once a year to get updates. So far, all three students are doing well.

Spread out over the four years of schooling, Wallin is a “last-dollar scholarship,” which means the group can help cover remaining costs after other scholarships or state funding are applied, e.g., books, class materials and living expenses.

“It’s exciting to add another student to the Bob Lund Scholarship roster,” Burandt said. “SFM continues to demonstrate its commitment to helping students overcome barriers to higher education.”

The current scholarship students are:

• Hideaki Lee (University of Minnesota)
• Natali Iguanero Espinoza (University of Wisconsin)
• Van Nguyen (University of Minnesota)

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