Michigan City High School senior Madelyn Parry looked stunned Thursday after a $100,000 four-year scholarship offer from Lane University in Jackson, Tennessee.
She didn’t know Lane’s location or anything about the school, but she was still intrigued and proud.
Parry joined more than 1,000 high school seniors from Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties at Thursday’s Urban League of Northwest Indiana’s Free College Fair at Indiana University Northwest Savannah Center’s gymnasium in Gary.
Parry, who plans to study chemical or nuclear engineering, also received a $25,000 offer from Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis.
“Going to Purdue University for nuclear engineering is my dream.
“I really didn’t know they awarded scholarships on the spot,” she said as Urban League board member Nychi Heath, of Old National Bank, announced the offer.
Urban League of Northwest Indiana president and CEO Vanessa Allen McCloud said about 70 universities and colleges participated.
She said the fair also included banking representatives who offered scholarships and provided information for parents to help their children open up banking accounts when they leave for school, and how to learn basic financial management.
Also represented were police and fire departments and building trades groups.
Other groups registered students to vote if they were 18. About 130 registered, said Allen McCloud.
Students learned how to vote, where to vote and about a new law that no longer lets them use a student ID to vote. They must have a state ID or a driver’s license.
Viniece Rivers, a Merrillville High senior, happily received a $4,000 scholarship to IU-Northwest where she plans to study nursing.
At Merrillville, she said she’s taking a course in medical intervention and principles of biological medical science.
Jacob Makinson, a senior at Portage Christian School, received an $8,000 scholarship from IU-Northwest but he’s uncertain of his college choice, for now.
“I want to study civil, mechanical or computer engineering, or go to Moody Bible Institute for pastoral studies.”
Meanwhile, Annie Camacho, an admissions representative from Calumet College of St. Joseph, said she had a busy morning.
“It’s been really good, very exciting,” she said. “We don’t offer on-site scholarships; we’re just giving information.”
Camacho talked with Ebani Whitehead, a Hammond Morton senior, who’s undecided on her college choice.
She said he’s hoping to attend Ball State University, but she planned to collect information from other schools and research them.
Mara Huneryager and Ellie Johnson, of Chesterton High, said they met with representatives from several schools but both seniors hope to attend Butler University in Indianapolis, which wasn’t at the fair.
“I still like to talk to other schools and see what they offer,” said Huneryager.
Johnson wants to study neuroscience. If they’re both accepted at Butler, the best friends said they’ll be roommates.
Tori Reynolds drove from Indianapolis to attend the fair because her cousin recommended it. She’s a senior at North Central High School.
She wants to attend Indiana University and become a pediatric dentist.
“There’s nothing like this in Indianapolis,” she said of the college fair. “I just applied to several schools.”
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter at the Post-Tribune.