High school students Ryan Lee from Wichita and Amy Lightfoot from Colorado Springs have won Wichita State University's Harry Gore Memorial Scholarships.
They will receive $13,000 a year for four years to attend Wichita State, a total of $52,000 each.
Lee is a senior at Eisenhower High School in Goddard, and Lightfoot is a senior at Rampart High School in Colorado Springs.
The scholarships, awarded annually at WSU, recognize leadership and academic skills and are two of the largest undergraduate scholarships in Kansas.
Ryan Lee
Lee, senior class president at Eisenhower High, comes to Wichita State interested in studying international business. Has studied Mandarin Chinese since his freshman year and hopes to spend a year in Shanghai during his college career.
Ryan Lee
As a member of Business Professionals of America, Lee finished first place at the 2014 Kansas State Leadership Convention in Marketing, Management and Human Resources.
Lee, a member of the National Honor Society, was one of two students nominated by his principal to attend the Youth Civic Leadership Institute held at the Dole Institute of Politics.
“In high school Ryan has been involved in every business and leadership opportunity,” said Kay Premer, Lee’s National Honor Society advisor. “He’s achieved the top levels and is ready for new challenges. Wichita State is the perfect arena for him with the business organizations and student groups. Ryan will search out the leadership opportunities, because that’s who he is.”
Amy Lightfoot
Lightfoot is interested in studying communication sciences and disorders at Wichita State.
Amy Lightfoot
She is the founder and president of Special Connections, an organization for students with special needs, and is president of the 501c3 nonprofit organization Heart for the Children.
Lightfoot was one of 25 students in her region selected as an intern at a Colorado hospital in the area of speech pathology. She is a mentor to middle school students and has served as student body president of her class every year in high school.
“Amy is a sophisticated, scholastic and talented young woman,” said Lightfoot’s high school counselor, Andrea Lucero. “She is a student with a natural love of learning, and she establishes innovative approaches to address any situation that arises.”
Background
To be considered for the Gore Scholarships, Lightfoot and Lee competed in the Distinguished Scholarship Invitational in November. Students must have a 24 or higher ACT score and a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA.
Gore scholarships have been awarded annually since 1954 to freshmen entering WSU who display outstanding potential for leadership.
Theodore and Ralph Gore established the Harry Gore Memorial Scholarship in 1952.