SENIOR EARNS MERIT AWARD
Annika Geiersbach of Hinsdale, a senior at St. Ignatius College Prep, is one of 840 distinguished high school seniors who have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards. She has received the National Merit Boeing Scholarship.
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. recently released the names of the first group of winners in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholars were selected from students who advanced to the Finalist level in the National Merit Scholarship competition and met criteria of their scholarship sponsors. Corporate sponsors provide scholarships for finalists who are children of their employees, who are residents of communities the company serves, or who plan to pursue college majors or careers the sponsor wishes to encourage.
CENTRAL STUDENTS ARE RECOGNIZED
• Tiffany Tu earned national honors from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers in conjunction with its Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She won a Silver Medal and American Visions Medal in the painting category for her piece titled “Conversation.” She qualified for nationals after winning a Gold Key in the regional competition.
• Carly Hurst performed in the preliminaries for the Rooted & Radical Youth Poetry Festival. She was recognized as an All-Star Poet and her poem “Like a Girl” earned the 2023 Speak Award, which honors poets who “explore their identity and spark necessary conversation, exposing the changes that must be made.” She performed the poem and received her award at an April 22 showcase.
• Senior Alysha Haverkos’ entry in the University of Illinois’ FSHN Food Challenge Contest earned her a scholarship in food science for the 2023-24 academic year. Haverkos won the award for the Red Wheat Stroopwafel recipe she submitted for the food science category and its theme “2 Weeks on the Shelf.”
COLLEGE STUDENT WINS AWARD
Lucia Battaglia of Hinsdale won the Bruin Award at this year’s Belmont Student Leadership Awards, hosted by the Division of Student Formation April 12.
The Bruin Award represents the highest honor bestowed by the Division for Student Formation. The award recognizes junior and senior students who have exemplified Belmont’s aspirational aims by consistently engaging in campus life and demonstrating outstanding service to the campus community through significant participation in campus leadership.
More than 72 student leaders, staff and faculty members were recognized for their leadership and service, with the event’s “Everyday Champions” theme being inspired by the university’s focus on being radical champions for all.
BARR HONORED FOR PHILANTHROPY
Hinsdale’s Robert Barr was recently commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by Gov. Andy Besheaer, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Kentucky governor, in recognition of his work as founder and CEO of Operation Deployed supporting the military through care packages. The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels is a voluntary philanthropic organization, to which Barr was nominated for membership by Col. Thomas Mohler, a chaplain in the Texas Army National Guard.
