Family, friends and fellow students have created a scholarship in honour of an Olds College student who was killed outside a bar in Olds last fall.
Nicholas Baier, 18, died of blunt force trauma when he was allegedly struck by a pickup truck outside the Texas Mickey Bar early in the morning of Oct. 29. Another student was injured in the incident.
Baier, who lived in the East Central Alberta town of Altario, had been studying agricultural management and was a member of the Aggies Club, said Jordan Cleland, vice-president of advancement for the college.
Members of the Aggies Club, with support from Olds College and the Olds College Students Association, have been working with Baier’s family to build a fund that would support an annual scholarship of at least $750, Cleland said.
The fund has now reached $19,000, which will provide sufficient income to support a scholarship of $1,000 to $1,200 per year, he said.
While students, faculty, staff and others have supported the fund through their donations, a significant portion was raised in a cattle auction held in Altario on March 7. The auction raised $15,000 for the fund, said Cleland.
The Nicholas Baier Memorial Endowed Scholarship was announced during a special event at Olds College on Thursday evening. Details of the criteria for winning the scholarship have not been finalized.
Jeffrey Kevin Leinen, of Calgary, who was 24 at the time, has been charged with drunk driving causing death and drunk driving causing injury.
He will have a three-day preliminary hearing beginning on June 28 in Didsbury provincial court.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com