Wentzville Students Win Fire Hydrant Scholarships

Q: So when is a fire hydrant more than just a 150 pound piece of metal?

A: When it’s a scholarship application, of course!

The Water Division of the has awarded $4,000 worth of scholarships to three students in the . Dana Engelhardt, a senior at received a $2,000 scholarship for her entry, and Alex Braun and Kathleen Haarmann—both seniors at —tied for first place and will each receive a scholarship worth $1,000 for their artistic fire hydrants.

This is the 16th year for the contest, held annually in conjunction with National Water Week. Each year Wentzville students are asked to creatively interpret a theme with their painted hydrants. This year, dozens of students from each high school submitted “National Monuments” designs for consideration.

The Art Department at each high school selected five worthy student entries, and these students were provided with a blank hydrant. Wentzville city employees from five different departments then judged the ten finalists, with the top hydrant (or hydrants in this year’s case) from each school earning a scholarship for its creator.

Dana will attend Missouri Baptist University in the fall and plans on studying psychology in the hopes of becoming an art therapist. Alex has been accepted and hopes to attend the Kansas City Art Institute this fall and Kathleen plans to use her A+ scholarship to attend St. Charles Community College to study nursing.  

All ten colorful hydrants will be on display this month outside the Wentzville water control building located at 802 East Pearce, under the old water tower.