Fourteen Chosen as Bone Scholars, Highest Undergraduate Academic Honor

Fourteen students at Illinois State University have been chose as Robert G. Bone Scholars for the 2010-2011 school year, announced by Kim Pereira, director of the Honors Program.

The Bone Scholarship, the highest university-wide honor given to undergraduate students, includes a monetary award from the Bone Scholarship endowment.  Pictures of the recipients are displayed in the Bone Student Center, and their names are engraved on a plaque displayed permanently there. 

The 14 new Scholars will be introduced to University administrators, the selection committee and to current and alumni Bone Scholars during a September 11 luncheon, and they will be recognized at the University's Scholarship Awards Ceremony in November.

The scholarship is named in honor of the late Robert G. Bone, president of Illinois State from 1956-1967.  Bone Scholars are selected through a rigorous campus-wide competition on the basis of their scholarly achievements and their engagement and leadership in activities, in the university community and beyond.  Invited finalists submit a comprehensive portfolio including several essays and statements, a project, and five letters of recommendation.  The mean grade point average of this year's Bone Scholars is 3.92 on a 4.0 scale.

The selection committee consisted of Cyndee Brown, Jonathan Druker, Myoung Jin Kim, Barbara Meyer, Aslihan Spaulding and Carson Varner of the Illinois State faculty; current Bone Scholar Jonathan Damery; Foundation Association representative Peg VanMeter; Parents Association Representative Jeff Olson; Bone Scholarship alumna Janet Moore and Alumni Association representative Lynda Lane.

The new Bone Scholars are:

Kelsey Coker, an English/Spanish major from Taylorville

Lisa Devereux, a special education major from Western Springs

Chelsea DuBois, a theatre management major from Springfield

Julie Herold, a special education major from Naperville

Jacqueline Holland, an agribusiness, general finance major from Apple River

Bradley Johnson, a biological sciences major from Gibson City

Jacqueline Ottens, a marketing, international business major from Fulton

Lauren Roark, a theatre major from Palatine

Simone Runyon, a geology major from Naperville

Mary Ryan, a psychology major from Danville

Kelly Schneider, an agriculture, health sciences major from Chicago

Joseph Wagner, an international business, general finance major from Lansing

Jessica Wozniak, an English major from Carol Stream

Katie Jo Wright, a history major from Georgetown