EAU CLAIRE — For the fifth consecutive year, the Wisconsin School Psychologist Association has selected a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire student as the recipient of the Allard Award.
          The award, given to the most outstanding nondoctoral level graduate in Wisconsin, was presented to Danielle deGrood, a school psychology graduate student from Roseville, Minn.
          "I think I was chosen because I have quite a bit of experience in the educational and psychology fields" deGrood said. "I think that the school psychology program has provided me with many opportunities to further my knowledge and experience."
          UW-Eau Claire's school psychology program offers its students opportunities not offered by other universities. The Human Development Center is the only interdisciplinary center of its kind at any university in the state of Wisconsin. The university also has a connection to the Lac du Flambeau American Indian community.
          Dr. Bill Frankenberger, professor of psychology and director of the Human Development Center, nominated deGrood. "Danielle stood out in my mind as one of our best students, not only because of her academic skills but also her interpersonal skills," Frankenberger said. "She's energetic and has a real positive disposition. You can give her a project and feel confident that she has the skills to complete it at a very high level."
          Along with volunteering at a battered women's shelter in Duluth, Minn., and tutoring and mentoring first-grade students for a year, deGrood has taken advantage of the programs offered by the university. She has done clinical work at the Human Development Center and at the Lac du Flambeau's community school. She also has taken workshops to get her substitute-teaching license from Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction.
          As a second-year graduate student, deGrood has been able to maintain a 4.0 grade-point average and is a member of the Wisconsin School Psychologist Association.
          "It is a great honor to be able to carry on the tradition of this award," deGrood said. "I think the school psychology program at UW-Eau Claire has some of the best students that I have ever had the pleasure to work with, and I am just happy to be considered a part of them because any one of them could have been the recipient of this award."
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Updated: April 12, 2001