Area students receive scholarships from Marianjoy

Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital recently awarded college scholarships up to $5,000 to local students with special needs. The hospital has awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships since 1994.

Local students receiving scholarships are:

Amanda Fowler of Naperville. Fowler received rehabilitation therapy at Marianjoy after a traumatic brain injury. She is now studying English at the University of Illinois.

Bridgette Martinak of Algonquin. Martinak has a form of muscular dystrophy. She is studying medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

David Baer of Wheaton. Baer has ectrodactyly-ectodermal dysplasia-clefting syndrome. He is studying biomechanical engineering at Purdue.

Dina Margetis of Mount Prospect. Margetis has schizencephaly. She is studying early childhood education at Oakton Community College.

Jeffrey Zagoudis of Palatine. Zagoudis has spina bifida. He is studying organizational communication at North Central College.

John Mravik of Elgin. Mravik is a quadriplegic. He is a graduate student at Northern Illinois University.

Katherine McElheney of Wheaton. McElheney has reflex sympathetic dystrophy. She will study political science or psychology at Illinois Wesleyan.

Scott Nyquist of Prospect Heights. Nyquist has spina bifida. He is studying education and history at Elmhurst College.

Shawna Culp of Wheaton. Culp suffered childhood cancer. She is a member of the University of Illinois' wheelchair basketball team and a paralympic basketball team alternate.

Amanda Lapka of Palatine, a psychology major at Roosevelt University, Schaumburg. Lapka has muscular dystrophy.

Kathryn Monfortte of Villa Park, majoring in international relations and Spanish at Eckerd College in Florida. Monfortte has cerebral palsy.

Fabian Lopez of Bartlett, who is majoring in music education at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. Lopez has congenital multiple dislocations.

Molly Farrell of Wheaton will attend St. Mary's in South Bend, Ind. Farrell is a volunteer tutor who has appeared in Teen People and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Ian Smith of Elmhurst is a computer science major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His diagnosis is skeletal dysplasia.

Alyssa-Jordan Lye of Montgomery is a psychology major at Waubonsee Community College. She is paraplegic following a car accident.

Chrisele Welsh of Lemont will study nursing at Joliet Junior College and University of St. Francis in Joliet. Welsh suffered a traumatic brain injury following a car accident.

Emily Parece of Yorkville will study speech pathology at University of Illinois. Parece suffered a brain injury in a car accident.

Hannah Thompson of Glenview will study political science and psychology at Elmhurst College. She suffers from cerebral palsy.

Jessica Riechers of Beecher will study elementary education at Illinois State University. She has an arteriovenous malformation and suffered a massive stroke during a surgery to repair it.

Patrick Juris of New Lexos will study social work at Southern Illinois University. He has spina bifida.

Meredith Hill of Oak Park is studying elementary education and art at Concordia University. She suffered a brain injury.