Best & Brightest

• Bryan Zaremba of Elk Grove Village, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, received the UWP Foundation Academic Scholar Award for $500. This award is given to students who are considered outstanding leaders by peers and teachers and are involved in numerous community and school activities.

Zaremba, the son of Arlene Zaremba, Elk Grove Village, and Joe Zaremba, Rolling Meadows, is a freshman majoring in engineering at UWP this fall. He is a 2007 graduate of Elk Grove High School.

• Stephanie Jeong, a violinist from Rolling Meadows, graduated May 12 from Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music with a bachelor of music degree. She entered Curtis in 1997 at the age of 9, as a student accepted to study with violinist Aaron Rosand. All Curtis students receive merit-based full-tuition scholarships, and Jeong held the Milka Violin Artist Fellowship.

Jeong performed as featured soloist at the White House at the age of 7 and appeared annually in concerts at Chicago's Orchestra Hall. In 1999 Jeong won both the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Feinburg competitions, which led to performances with both orchestras during the 1999-2000 season. She has also been a soloist with the Binghamton and Florida philharmonics; Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra; Aurora, Reading and Ridgefield symphonies; and Millbrook Orchestra. She won the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition in the junior division in 2002, and was invited to be the guest soloist for its New Year's Eve Gala concert. She was also a prizewinner at the Fourth Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians' Competition that year.

In 2004 Jeong was a winner of the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, a year later won the gold medal at the California International Young Artist Competition and was the string division winner of the National YAMAHA Young Performing Artists competition. In 2006 she won the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert M. Greenfield competition for the third time in the senior division, leading to a solo performance with the orchestra during the 2006-07 season. She also performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in June and with the Kansas City Symphony in October.

• Taylor Lemke of Rolling Meadows, a graduate of Rolling Meadows High School, received a bachelor's degree in Spanish and Italian in May from Dominican University, River Forest. Lemke was also named Distinguished Senior for Spanish studies.

• John Hubball of Arlington Heights was awarded a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering at the end of the 2007 spring quarter from Milwaukee School of Engineering.

• Chris Ambler of Arlington Heights, a freshman majoring in engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, received an Illinois Tri-State Initiative Scholarship Award for $500. Recipients must be new freshmen and display strong leadership skills. He is a 2007 graduate of John Hersey High School and the son of Keith and Vickey Ambler, Arlington Heights.

• Marlene Chojnowski, a student working toward a master's degree in speech pathology at Northwestern University, is the recipient of a 2007 annual scholarship awarded by the Polish Women's Civic Club, Inc. The amount of the individual award is based on merit and need. Chojnowski, whose parents reside in the Arlington Heights area, holds a bachelor's degree in American studies from DePaul University.

• Dianna Glinski of Arlington Heights was named to the spring 2007 dean's honor list at Emerson College, Boston, Mass., for achieving a semester grade point average of 3.70 or higher. Glinski, a graduate of Rolling Meadows High School, is working on a degree focusing on political communications and performance studies.

• Katherine Kragh, daughter of William and Anne Kragh of Arlington Heights, was named to the spring quarter dean's list at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Ind., for earning at least a 3.3 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. Kragh is a junior majoring in chemical engineering.

• Andrew F. Barnum, son of Frederick and Katherine Barnum, Arlington Heights, and a sophomore at Northwood University in Midland, Mich., was named to the spring 2007 dean's list for achieving at least a 3.25 grade point average.

• Ashley Kathryn Jennrich of Arlington Heights, a senior majoring in actuarial science in the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, was named to the dean's list/honor roll for the spring 2006-07 semester.

• Natalie N. Gottschalk, Nazar Kashuba and Kurt S. Kwidzinski, each received juris doctor degrees at the end of the spring semester from Chicago-Kent College of Law, the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology.

• Northern Illinois University in DeKalb announced the following students were awarded bachelor's degrees at the May 12 commencement ceremonies.

Arlington Heights: Nick Anthony Abbate, sociology; Eduardo Arias, accountancy; Caitlin Marie Bullis, art; Jenna Lynn Clausen, elementary education; Timothy Lee Cohen, economics; Peter John Dagostino, political science-public administration & service; Michelle R. DiPaolo, psychology; Stephanie Anne Koch, biological sciences; Allison M. Martin, biological sciences; Elizabeth A. Pfeifer, marketing; Jennifer Ptack, special education; Chris Rhodes, English; Timothy Michael Ryan, communications, organizationla/corporate; Diana L. Twomey, elementary education; and Mark Adam Zissman, psychology.

Rolling Meadows: Victor M. Azcorra, mathematics, probability and statistics; William J. Foulks, geography; Kathryn Heffernan, marketing; and Kelly Marie Henry, early child studies, Type 04 Certificate.

• Northern Illinois University in DeKalb announced the following students were named to the spring 2007 dean's list in their respective colleges.

Arlington Heights: Ashley Nicole Baur, Lauren Lemaster Boyd, Hannah M. Budzynski, Emily Elizabet Corlew, Sarah Katherine Darby, John Paul Glorioso, Theresa Joy Harris, Jenna Michele Jensen, Thomas Andrew Kazecki, Sarah Lyn Kazmierczak, Hyonkoo Lee, Michael D. Manning, Daniel Gene Stone, Diana L. Twomey, Carolyn Laura Voss, Matthew B. Whowell and Mark Adam Zissman.

Rolling Meadows: John Christopher Deger, Michael Thomas Noe and Ellen Marie Stoddard.