Laura Kratochvil Memorial Scholarship

This Scholarship is presented by Rose Gould in memory of her niece, Laura Kratochvil.  Laura’s father, Daniel, was a member of the 1961 graduating class of Franklin Pierce High School.  Laura was a professional broadcast journalist, television producer and aspired to be a lawyer.

A Scholarship award is made to a graduating senior of Franklin Pierce High School who intends to pursue studies in the performing arts, broadcast journalism or law.

• Must be a graduating senior intending to pursue studies in the performing arts, broadcast journalism or law.
• Financial need does not have to be a consideration.
• Preference should go to a good student who may not be recognized with other scholarships.

The Franklin Pierce Scholarship Committee will select the recipient. An alternate shall be selected annually and the scholarship shall be awarded to that individual if the primary award winner does not meet the requirements of the scholarship.

Laura’s father, Daniel Kratochvil, was a member of the 1961 graduating class of Franklin Pierce High School.  Laura was born on July 28, 1967 in Buffalo, New York and spent most of her life on the east coast.  Laura reached out and embraced life.  Her twenty-four years were full of goals set and accomplished, and, although she had many more dreams to fulfill, she made the most of the time she was given.

Laura was a professional broadcast journalist and television producer.  She graduated Magna Cum Laud in three years from the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University.  She worked for a number of well-known productions including “Good Morning America”, “20/20” and “Entertainment Tonight.”  In 1988 she created, wrote, and produced a nationally syndicated program which highlighted new ideas in medicine.  Segments she produced eventually became part of a medical program on the Discovery Channel.

Laura loved the theater and made it part of her life where ever she roamed.  She was a member of the National Children’s Choir in Washington, DC, and she performed in television programs and commercials in Texas and Massachusetts as a child.  In high school she had roles in a number of plays and musicals.  At age thirteen she worked as a costumer and dresser for the Opera Company at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Virginia.  She used her skill at pulling together costumes to help civic theater groups wherever she lived.  It was in the middle of doing costumes for a theater in California when she first began to feel the symptoms of her disease.

Laura fought hard against the disease which attacked her.  She took all the radiation and chemotherapy treatments doctors prescribed, and she underwent four operations.  She fought hard to rebuild her body after it had been weakened by the treatment, and even as she was facing a second round of brain surgery, she studied for and took the Law School Admission Test, doing well enough to attend most any law school in the country.  During her last month she felt a lot of pain, but she worked each day to get well. She never gave up.

Laura was part of a very close family to which she contributed, among other things, her sense of justice and her ability to have fun.  She made friends all over the world and taught all to be more compassionate and caring.  Even as she learned to live with a life threatening disease, she reached out to help others who were sick.  She is greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

• Receipt of a completed Scholarship Acceptance Form will hold this scholarship for the student. The scholarship can be held no longer than 16 months after June 30th of the year of graduation from high school.
• Upon receipt of Proof of Enrollment Form including a student ID number, funds will be released to the institution in the name of the student.