RMHS student named Stamps Scholar

Julia Olson of Arlington Heights, a 2023 Rolling Meadows High School graduate, has been selected as a Stamps Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where she will study oboe performance starting this fall.

She was selected from all incoming freshman applicants at UIUC. After being chosen for a full tuition Provost Scholarship, Julia interviewed for the prestigious Stamps Foundation scholarship. As a Stamps scholar, she will receive full tuition, fees, room and board, and access to an enrichment fund of up to $12,000 to use toward study abroad, research, or other approved activities. She is one of just seven Stamps scholars in the UIUC class of 2027.

She's currently working as a summer production assistant for the Broadway in Chicago Summer Concert.

While at Rolling Meadows High School, Julia received the Richard W. Calisch Arts Unlimited Award, the National School Orchestra Award, the AP Capstone Award, and numerous outstanding drum major awards. She was heavily involved in the music program, playing oboe, violin and percussion in symphonic band, symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, jazz band, and musical pit orchestra. She was a two-year drum major for the Marching Mustangs Band, and the student conductor for the musical and orchestra. She danced in the school's Orchesis program, was a mock trial team member, and served as class council secretary.

After graduation, Stamps Scholars have received prestigious awards including Fulbright, Gates Cambridge, Goldwater, Marshall, Rhodes, Truman, and Schwarzman scholarships. Stamps alumni work with top companies and organizations such as Google, Goldman Sachs, and NASA and are pursuing graduate degrees at prestigious institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Cambridge.