Women in Business Award Two Scholarships
The Women in Business Advisory Forum (WIBAF), a networking group of the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce, is pleased to be able to award two $1,000 scholarships again this year. This scholarship provides nonrenewable awards to be used for college tuition, fees, books, or supplies. For the third consecutive year, two awards have been given: one to Nina Vrtjak of Palatine High School and one to Kathleen McManus of Fremd High School. To be eligible for the application process, female students must have had a 3.0 GPA or better, with the intent of attending a 2-year or 4-year college or university in Fall 2016 to pursue a degree in a business-related field. Other criteria considered by the scholarship judges included business coursework in high school, employment experience, clubs/activities/service/volunteer roles, two short response questions, and two letters of recommendation.
Kathleen McManus, the recipient from Fremd High School, will be attending University of Alabama where she plans to major in Marketing. Kathleen's many activities in high school ranged from clubs to theater groups to the competitive dance team. Kathleen has been working in marketing while attending high school through an internship in digital media - a position she earned through a networking connection formed in her Business Incubator class at Fremd. Kathleen is a blogger and can be found online at www.letsgetpreppy.com. One of her favorite parts of social media revolves around its "encouraging and collaborative environment." These are important traits of the WIBAF networking group as well, making Kathleen an excellent choice as this year's recipient from Fremd High School.
Nina Vrtjak, the recipient from Palatine High School, will be attending University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where she will be majoring in Accounting. Nina's application demonstrated a strong combination of coursework and employment experience and she was also very involved in clubs and athletics at Palatine High School. One of Nina's essays described a mentoring relationship she built as part of her Small Business Incubator class - which truly relates to the relationships built by members of the WIBAF networking group. Nina plans to study accounting, which she describes as being like a "jigsaw puzzle" because there is always "an answer that adds up." In the end, it was Nina's scores that added up to make her this year's very worthy recipient from Palatine High School.
The scholarship recipients and their families will be recognized during the Net @ Nite networking event that Palatine Park District is hosting at Palatine Hills Golf Course, 512 W. Northwest Hwy, Palatine, on Thursday, July 20 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more information on this business after hours event, visit www.palatinechamber.com or call (847) 359-7200.
This year's scholarship committee volunteers included WIBAF members Joan Scovic from Palatine Park District (committee chair), Fay Ellen Buican of HomeSmart, Deb Gabriel with Edward Jones, Amanda Kamick from Sport-Clips - Palatine, and Alex Looff with Signs By Tomorrow - Arlington Heights. Funds for the 2016-2017 scholarship program were raised through a fashion show fundraiser and raffle prize drawings offered at WIBAF's monthly networking luncheons.
WIBAF is an active group of business women who are interested in learning and networking with one another while discussing business related topics. Meetings are held once a month, on the second Tuesday of each month from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Meetings include featured member presentations and organized presentations of business topics, along with time for networking with other members in attendance. In addition, members have an opportunity to periodically profile their business in a 5-10 minute presentation. The fee for WIBAF luncheon networking meetings is $15 per person. Preregistration is required and can be completed online each month at www.palatinechamber.com. Registration is requested no later than the Friday morning prior to the meeting. Registration after noon on Friday and up to Monday at noon will be $17 per person. Please contact one of the members of the WIBAF leadership team, Katie Forsythe at (847) 776-4500, katieAForsythe@yahoo.com, Kate Johnson at (847) 991-1112 ext. 234, kjohnson@ptscc.org, or Alex Looff at (847) 255-0123, arlingtonheights@signsbytomorrow.com, for more information.