The Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation has announced the awarding of scholarships to area students.
The William, Agnes, and Elizabeth Burgess Osborne Memorial Scholarship is made possible by the generous gift of farm ground from Elizabeth Burgess Osborne and her parents, William and Agnes Burgess. This scholarship supports current seniors and graduates of Mattoon High School.
Scholarships, totaling $74,000, have been awarded to: Brie Armstrong, Chase Armstrong, Sadie Armstrong, Ella Bahney, Zoe Barton, Evelyn Bell, Makalie Buxton, Nathaniel Carter, Miles Clapp, Savanna Cole, Joleigh Cougill, Sarah Creel, Rease Daniels, Chloe Dodd, Josiah Donaldson, Mary Ashley Dotson, Ashley Earp, Ty Eastin, Ean Freeman, Mitchell Gergeni, Lillian Ghere, Avery Gill, Sarah Gonzalez, Allison Gouveia, Lily Gregory, Berit Haldorsen, Kayden Harminson, Hailey Hart, Owen Hawkins, Chloe Hettinger, Ashlee Higginbotham, Emily Hoene, Madeline Hurt, Andrew Karpus, Madeline Krost, Caley Lane, Abrienne Lee, Camryn Lee, Madison MacDonald, Lily Maninfior, Isabella Masse, Cadance McDaniel, Cheyenne McFarland, Chandler Melton, Diego Mendoza, Alexis Miller, Noah Noble, Sidney Paulson, Luke Perry, Blaine Powers, Blair Powers, Chloe Pruitt, William Pullen, Kaiden Rice, Karson Rice, Makayla Richey, Zealand Sanders, Paige Schwenke, Dalton Short, Colton Smith, Isabella Smith, John Sullivan, Aydin Tariq, Keira Thomas, Kailyn Tracy, Slater Trier, Marlana Van Hoveln, CeAzia Wade, Alexandra Walsh, Andrew Wetzel, Zachary Wetzel, Gracie Willingham, Callan Wilson, Laney Wright.
The Mattoon High School Alumni Scholarship provides financial assistance for Mattoon High School seniors pursuing higher education.
Scholarship recipients are:
Elizabeth Ann Weidner worked tirelessly as a childhood cancer advocate at the local/state/national level despite her own battles with the disease from the age of 12 until her death at 17. Service to others was a core principle for Elizabeth in her daily life pursuits. Given the chance she intended to become a pediatric oncology nurse.
Applicants must be high school seniors pursuing a secondary education preferably in the areas of health, agriculture, or the arts but not limited to those areas. Special consideration given to families affected by cancer. The recipient of this scholarship must exhibit high qualities of character to be worthy of the award.
2025 recipients are:
Established by the generous gift of farm ground from Harry, John and Catherine Smysor of Windsor, the John L, Harry L, and Catherine Smysor Scholarship supports students pursuing higher education who have demonstrated financial need and have contributed to their community through acts of service.
Preference is given to current seniors and alumni of Windsor High School as well as dependents of Windsor High School alumni.
2025 Windsor High School graduate recipients are:
Windsor High School alumni scholarship recipients: Karlie Bean, Chase Bennett, Talon Bridges, Aubree Brown, Clayton Carey, Kaylynn Carey, Megan Colclasure, Lillian Cole, Dylan Curry, Ella Gilbert. Morgan Gruel, Brody Hendrickson, Silas Hortenstine, Corbin Howard, Graham Kasey, Michael Kircher, Kloey McDaniel, Madison Pfeiffer, Claire Sims, Bayleigh Tabor, and Kiersten Wheeler.
Dependents of Windsor High School alumni scholarship recipients:
• Stewardson-Strasburg High School: Abbie Kelly, Briar Smith, Ellie Wittenberg
• Okaw Valley High School: Regan Coleman, Alexis Mashaw
• Mattoon High School: Camryn Lee, Mitchell Gergeni, Cheyenne McFarland
• Charleston High School: Zach Finley
• Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond High School: Wyatt Hilligoss
• Shelbyville High School: Kelton Logan, Adalynn Miller, Sadie Tucker
Dependents of Windsor High School alumni scholarship recipients from other regions: Ivy Ayers, Williams Bennett, Kolby Collins, Aidan Daugherty Oda Drake, Griffin Gergeni, Slater Goebel, Isabella Hoerner, Owen Taylor, Maya Taylor, Gracie Wagoneer, Victoria Taylor, and Makenna Wagoneer.
The Daisy H. Mason Scholarship is made possible by the generous gift of farm ground from John and Daisy Mason of Mattoon. It supports current seniors and graduates of Mattoon High School.
Scholarships totaling $85,000 have been awarded to: Chase Armstrong, Sadie Armstrong, Ella Bahney, Zoe Barton, Evelyn Bell, Makalie Buxton, Nathaniel Carter, Miles Clapp, Savanah Cole, Joleigh Cougill, Sara Creel, Rease Daniels, Chloe Dodd, Josiah Donaldson, Mary Ashley Dotson, Ashley Earp, Ty Eastin, Ean Freeman, Mitchell Gergeni, Lillian Ghere, Avery Gill, Sarah Gonzalez, Allison Gouveia, Lily Gregory, Berit Haldorsen, Kayden Harminson, Hailey Hart, Owen Hawkins, Chloe Hettinger, Ashlee Higginbotham, Emily Hoene, Madeline Hurt, Andrew Karpus, Madeline Krost, Caley Lane, Abrienne Lee, Camryn Lee, Madison MacDonald, Lily Maninfior, Isabella Masse, Cadance McDaniel, Cheyenne McFarland, Chandler Melton, Diego Mendoza, Alexis Miller, Noah Noble, Sidney Paulson, Luke Perry, Blaine Powers, Blair Powers, Chloe Pruitt, William Pullen, Kaiden Rice, Karson Rice, Makayla Richey, Zealand Sanders, Paige Schwenke, Dalton Short, Isabella Smith, Colton Smith, John Sullivan, Aydin Tariq, Keira Thomas, Kailyn Tracy, Slater Trier, Marlana Von Hoveln, CeAzia Wade, Alexandra Walsh, Andrew Wetzel, Zachary Wetzel, Gracie Willingham, Callan Wilson, and Laney Wright.
Elgin and Genevieve Daily generously gifted their farm to support graduates from Coles and Moultrie counties in their pursuit of an agriculture degree from the University of Illinois or Lake Land College. They also have made it possible for Coles or Moultrie graduates attending Millikin University to receive funds to study music.
Scholarship recipients are:
Bruce Penwell, Jr. was born in Pana, graduated from Beecher City High School, and attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He worked in sales and marketing in the animal health industry and maintained a lifelong interest in the people and rural areas of Illinois.
Scholarships are provided to residents of Effingham, Shelby, and Christian counties who are pursuing nursing degrees.
Scholarship recipients are:
If you’re like a lot of students, your freshman year of college brings a lot of firsts. Veuer’s Maria Mercedes Galuppo has the story.
There’s a lot to consider when deciding where to apply to college.
Tuition costs, financial aid offerings, and student loans are high on the list, but so are questions about campus culture and free speech policies. The Hechinger Report created a whole suite of tools with brand-new data that can answer your questions and help you research what life might be like at thousands of colleges and universities across the country.
Here is what these tools do and how they can help you.
A Game of College is an interactive website that explains how students successfully move from high school to college. Play the role of a student and select from a variety of different income levels and demographics. Then, navigate your way through college as debt-free as possible. This game was created in collaboration with CalMatters.
This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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