The Community Foundation of Northern Illinois is proud to announce that Sabrina Meng has been named the 2021 Howard D. Colman Scholar. Sabrina graduated from the Illinois Math and Science Academy in 2020, and recently finished her freshman year at MIT. She is seeking a degree in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering. Sabrina is the 10th Colman Scholar, a distinction which includes eligibility to receive $32,500 in scholarship funding during a student’s undergraduate education.

Rashad Ahmad (Guilford High School, 2020), Drake Buss (Winnebago High School, 2020), and Maya Pandya (Auburn High School, 2020) were named Colman Scholarship Honorees.

Luke Grocholl (Hononegah High School), Sreyansh Mamidi (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy), Phuong Pham (Auburn High School), and Elizabeth Rothermel (Durand High School) were recognized as the 2021 Howard D. Colman Scholarship Recipients. The Scholarship Recipients are graduating high school seniors from Boone and Winnebago Counties who will major in engineering, computer science, applied science, or a comparable technological field. The Howard D. Colman Scholarship Recipients must have a GPA of at least 3.5/4.0 and must personify the innovative spirit of Howard D. Colman. One of the Howard D. Colman Scholarship Recipients will be named the 2022 Howard D. Colman Scholar. 

The Howard D. Colman Scholarship program is named after the local inventor, entrepreneur, and co-founder of the Barber-Colman Company. The scholarship was established by Colman’s daughter, Ruth Colman Tower. The scholarship awards were presented by Colman’s grandson, Jack Tower.

As a benefit and requirement of the scholarship program, the scholars, scholarship recipients, and honorees are matched with internships related to their area of study at local companies such as Leading Edge Hydraulics, University of Illinois – Chicago College of Medicine at Rockford, Raytheon Technologies, Woods Equipment, and the City of Rockford. 

CFNIL awarded more than $335,000 in scholarship funding to local students this year. Learn more about the 2021 Colman recipients and the entire CFNIL 2021 Scholarship Class at a virtual award night video presentation, premiering on CFNIL’s Facebook page (http://facebook.com/cfnil) at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, June 10th. To view the 2021 CFNIL Scholarship report, visit: http://cfnil.org/2021-scholarship-recipients/

(Pictured L to R: Phuong Pham, Maya Pandya, Sreyansh Mamidi, Jack Tower, Elizabeth Rothermel, and Drake Buss)