Jaidan Schmith and Cyrah Wright Named Recipients of the 2025 O’Brien County Career Day Scholarships

Pictured Left to Right: Jaidan Schmith, Richard Frerk, Cyrah Wright, and Wendy Nelson

Primghar, Iowa, May 13, 2025 – This year’s O’Brien County Career Day Scholarship recipients are Jaidan Schmith and Cyrah Wright, both seniors at Sheldon Community School District. Jaidan is a CNA and plans to pursue a career in nursing. Cyrah is also a CNA and has plans to pursue the LPN program and then obtain her RN degree through Northwest Iowa Community College. Both students reference their deep roots, with family and friends living here, as reasons to follow a career in O’Brien County. Jaiden likes the small town feel and the convenient location of O’Brien County while Cyrah enjoys the closeness and involvement of her community and church family.

O’Brien County Economic Development Corporation (OCEDC), the Career Day Committee and area employers worked hard to bring Career Day to four area school districts. The mission of O’Brien County Career Day is to provide opportunities for high school students to learn about the vast variety of professional careers within the county borders and to encourage those students to return to the area after graduation.

To be eligible to receive the scholarship, students had to have received a high school diploma or a high school equivalency diploma from a participating school between the years of 2019 to 2025. Applicants must also be a resident or plan to become a resident of O’Brien County and/or be employed or self-employed in the county. Ms. Schmith and Ms. Wright competed in a selection process that included submitting an essay.

Wendy Nelson, Prairie View, and Richard Frerk, AgriVision, both Career Day Committee members, presented the scholarships to Jaidan and Cyrah during the awards ceremony on May 13, 2025.

For more information, contact Kiana Johnson, O’Brien County Economic Development Corporation at 712.957.1313 or e-mail ocedc@tcaexpress.net.