Suburban students win memorial scholarships

Five Northern Illinois University students, including three with suburban roots, were awarded the first "Forward, Together Forward" memorial scholarships, university officials announced Saturday.

The scholarships are named after a line in the Huskies' fight song that became an inspirational slogan after the Feb. 14, 2008 shootings that claimed the lives of five NIU students.

The one-time, $4,000 scholarships were awarded in memory of the five victims, during a Saturday afternoon luncheon where NIU President John Peters introduced the five winners:

• Deanna Bach, a junior from Wheaton, is a Spanish Languages and Literature major who helps translate loan requests from third-world entrepreneurs into English.

• Jacqueline Do, a sophomore from DeKalb, volunteers at a DeKalb assisted living center and plans to become a pediatrician.

• Scott Hudek, originally from Downers Grove, is a U.S. Air Force veteran who ran over to Cole Hall, the site of the Feb. 14 shootings, to help provide aid to students who were injured in the attack.

• Justin Kuryliw, a junior from DeKalb, is a business major who helped create Huskies United, a group that has logged 500 hours of community service to honor the victims.

• Grace Weidner, a sophomore from Gurnee, is a communications and political science major who was in the Cole Hall auditorium where the shooting took place.

The five students were chosen from 71 applicants on the basis of their academic achievements, community service and essays on what it means to be a Huskie.

The "Forward, Together Forward" scholarships were created after NIU received more than $630,000 in unsolicited donations to memorialize the five students who died in a shooting rampage a year ago: Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Gayle Dubowski, Ryanne Mace and Daniel Parmenter.