Print edition: 
The pool of 11 finalists competing for this year’s lucrative Gore scholarships at Wichita State University was so strong, even the nine students who weren’t chosen will be offered four-year scholarships worth at least $20,000, a WSU official said.
Two Kansas students — one from Carbondale and one from Wellsville — were announced Thursday as the two winners of the Gore scholarships — at $48,000 over four years among Kansas’ biggest scholarships.
Whitney Wilson, a senior at Santa Fe Trail High School in Carbondale, near Topeka, and Caleb Smith, a senior at Wellsville High School, southwest of Olathe, were chosen after a competition that had started with a pool of 359 students. WSU has awarded the Gore scholarships each year since 1954 to two students who show outstanding leadership potential. The gifts honor Russian immigrant Harry Gore, who came to El Dorado as part of the oil industry in 1915 and believed in the potential of Kansas youth to make the state better.
Three Wichita students were among seven area finalists; two out-of-state students, one from Nebraska and one from Texas, also were in the group of 11.
“They were stellar,” Sheelu Surender, associate director of the office of financial aid, said of the finalists. Between their grades, test scores and service, and the projected availability of the money over four years, WSU is able to offer them more than finalists usually receive – at least $20,000 over four years, Surender said.
The new Gore scholars both said that WSU was the ideal fit for them.
Wilson wants to have a family of her own, so she went in search of a career that would offer flexibility. She also hopes to start a non-profit clinic offering dental care to the needy one day. So she has decided to study dental hygiene, and WSU is the only university in Kansas that has the degree program for it, she said.
Smith said his visit to WSU “far surpassed any campus visit” he’s had. “There was something different about the people here,” he said. He plants to major in aerospace engineering and would like to work for NASA or an aerospace company someday.
Among Wilson’s activities: president of the school National Honor Society chapter, vice president of the student council, active in 4-H, drum major, first chair bass clarinet and first chair tenor saxophone, state qualifier in cross country and track and field, and volunteer at Stormont-Vail HealthCare Center in Topeka.
Among Smith’s activities: treasurer of the student council, member of the National Honor Society and Scholars Bowl team, competitor in basketball and track and field, part of the leadership team for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, lead design engineer for grades 10 to 12 at his school in the national Real World Design Challenge, worship team guitarist at church, and food ministry volunteer.
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