Future Shockers win $52,000 scholarships
Derick Holmes, center left, and Kevin Kraus, center right, are the winners of this year’s Harry Gore Memorial Scholarship. Kraus and Holmes will receive $13,000 a year for four years to attend WSU, totaling $52,000 each.
Two Kansas high school students will attend Wichita State after being selected for the Harry Gore Memorial Scholarship.
Derrick Holmes from Wichita Southeast and Kevin Kraus from Salina South High School each won the scholarship, which gives $13,000 each year for four years at WSU. Both are interested in studying engineering.
“It feels so surreal,” Holmes said. “The competition was fierce. Any of the other finalists could be up here right now.”
This year’s invitational drew 328 students, and the remaining 10 finalists will all receive WSU scholarship packages.
Holmes and Kraus expressed gratitude for the Gore family and appreciation for their friends’ and families’ love.
Holmes shared his favorite moments from being a finalist in the competition.
“Well, they fed us really well, and we got to see the campus through the eyes of a Shocker,” he said.
Kraus expressed his excitement for being at WSU.
“I’m honestly just so honored to receive this award, and I look forward to becoming a part of the Shocker family,” Kraus said.
WSU President John Bardo made the announcement Friday as part of the 2014 Distinguished Scholarship Invitational.
“There are those who are afraid of what the future holds, but those in attendance today have seen the future,” Bardo said, gesturing to the students. “It is a point of pride.”
The Gore Scholarship awards incoming WSU freshmen on the basis of leadership potential. Theodore and Ralph Gore founded the scholarship in 1952, in honor of their father Harry, a Russian immigrant whose life’s work was inspiring young people to pursue their education beyond high school. The scholarships are two of the largest undergraduate awards offered in Kansas.
The 10 finalists were Aisha Duggins, Wichita Northeast; Brissa Gallegos, Wichita North; Mary Henning, Wichita Northwest; Jennifer Mattar, Wichita Collegiate; Bridget McSorley, Bishop Miege High; Meenakshi Natesan, Wichita East; Jenny Nguyen, Kapaun Mount Carmel; Madison Ripperger, Trinity Academy; Amy Vuong, Wichita Southeast and Jackson Wilborn, Wichita Northeast Magnet.
