We awarded the sixth KJO Memorial Scholarship of 2020 to Patrice Trzupek of Hinsdale South.  

 

The value of this scholarship is $1,500 annually, renewable for 4 years. All recipients must maintain a B average in college.  This is a category 1 scholarship.  

For more information on the scholarship requirements and award values, please see our information page here. 

 

Sports and Activities in High School:

Patrice, a three-sport four-year athlete was a four-year member of the cross country team, gymnastics team, and the track and field team.  She is a member of Athletes Committed to Excellence, student council, and Hornets for Wounded Warriors.

Highlights from the Essay:

Patrice writes about an old story where a young boy is walking on a beach and discovers 1000’s of washed up starfishes.  The boy starts picking them up and throwing them back in the ocean.  A passerby asks him why he’s doing that because he can’t save them all.  He stops and thinks for a second then throws another one into the ocean and replies, I can’t save them all but I saved that one.  

She uses this theme to frame other stories about her helping one person at a time.  That’s really all any of us can do.

Highlights from the Recommendations:

One of her teachers said:  “One of Patrice’s biggest strengths now is her writing skills, which she put a lot of time into between freshmen and junior year– to the point that she became quite adept at communicating through an essay style that is both easy to read and convincing.”  We could definitely see that in her essay “Starfishes on a beach”.

We are happy to add Patrice to the ranks of KJO Memorial Scholarship recipients for 2020. Congratulations!