Wichita State names Southeast High senior winner of Barton business scholarship (VIDEO)

Alyssa Ward hopes to make a positive impact locally and globally with a business degree.

The Wichita Southeast High School senior on Wednesday was named the winner of Wichita State University’s largest business scholarship.

Ward,18, will receive $11,000 a year for four years to attend WSU from the Clay Barton Scholarship in Business.

At Southeast, Ward is active in Thespian Troupe 1820 and the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program. She’s also a member of the school’s varsity bowling team, as well as Teen Heroes, the Mayor’s Youth Council and Leadership Advisory Council. She is the daughter of Scott and Kathy Ward.

Ward has a cumulative 4.0 grade point average, something that the interim dean of WSU’s W. Frank Barton School of Business said escaped him in high school.

“Mine was never quite that good,” James Jordan-Wagner said when introducing Ward at a ceremony at WSU’s Devlin Hall.

Jordan-Wagner said 29 high school students competed as semi-finalists for the scholarship, and from that field, five finalists were selected.

He said Ward is the 25th recipient of the scholarship, which is awarded annually.

Ward said that she cried when she received the phone call from WSU informing her that she won the scholarship. And those tears began to flow again Wednesday as she thanked her family in her speech.

“Thank you, Mom, for being my No. 1 fan at everything, even parent-teacher conferences, and Dad for teaching me what it means to be honorable and to be proud of myself,” she said in her speech. “To my brother, thanks for picking on me all the time and teaching me to be tough. And thank you all for helping me become the woman I am today.”

Ward said in an interview after her speech that she plans to get a degree in business management with a minor in finance or accounting.

“I feel like I can start there and get more (education) if I need to,” she said.

Ward said she is altruistic in choosing business as her major.

“Business makes the world go round,” she said. “I feel like just being part of that will really help me either make a difference in the world, or really affect different communities, different areas.”

Ward said she’s unsure where her business career will take her, but “I really want to stay local and feel like Koch Industries would be a really great opportunity after Wichita State.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2015 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Wichita State names Southeast High senior winner of Barton business scholarship (VIDEO)."