UNL recognizes World-Herald, Distinguished scholars of 2005

Lincoln, Neb., November 15th, 2005 —

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln recognized top Nebraska high school seniors for their academic excellence Nov. 3 at the 2005 Omaha World-Herald Recognition Dinner. These distinguished scholars have demonstrated a high level of ability and a strong commitment to superior performance in academics as indicated by their class ranking, combined with their ACT or SAT test scores. All Nebraska National Merit semi-finalists, National Hispanic Scholars and National Achievement Scholars were also recognized.

In addition to sponsoring the recognition dinner, the Omaha World-Herald sponsors two of the most prestigious and financially rewarding scholarships that the university awards. Bill Conley, vice president and director of administrative services at the World-Herald, presented Brent Hanson and Rebecca Lodes, two UNL freshmen, with this year's award of World-Herald Honors scholarships.

Hanson is a National Merit scholar and graduate of Kearney High School. He is a biological systems engineering major and is active in intramural sports, International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience student organization and the Biomedical Engineering Club.

Lodes is a National Merit scholar and graduate of Lincoln High School. She is involved in intramural sports, Relay for Life and the Chancellor's Leadership Class.

The World-Herald dinner culminated a full day of events for the distinguished scholars. Distinguished Scholars Day gives students the opportunity to learn more about the academic programs offered at UNL through the University Honors Program. Students and parents also join in on a Creation of Knowledge Tour where they get a glimpse of research and other academic opportunities for undergraduate students. They learned about music, journalism and engineering. All students interacted in small seminar classes on subjects including ethics in business, history, language and images, philosophy, photojournalism, biotechnology, political science, management and chemistry.

Following is a list by high school of students who were honored as distiniguished scholars. The student's hometown is listed in parentheses where appropriate.

Adams Central: Kristofer Jones (Hastings).

Alliance: Johnna Hjersman.

Arlington: Rebecca Ruwe.

Aurora: Sarah Arthur, Evan Janzen, Derek Werner.

Battle Creek: Travis Smith (Meadow Grove), Jenna Vogel.

Beatrice: John Higgins.

Bellevue East: Lauren Vanderneck.

Bellevue West: Andrew Anderson, William Bishop, Kate Bloemer, Laura Brazeal, Audrey Bruce, Samantha Janousek, Sara Redlin, Katherine Stuwe, Eric Van Epps, Jacob Williams.

Bennington: Virginia Andersen(Kennard), Lori Rothermund.

Blair: Heidi Gengenbach, Ashley Guinan.

Bloomfield: Colby Folck.

Broken Bow: Seth Leick (Sargent).

Central City Nebraska Christian: Kelli Garwood (Atkinson), Holly Murphy (Phillips).

Centura: Timothy Echtenkamp (Cairo), Tyler Lemburg (Dannebrog).

Chambers: Ross Thoendel (Ewing).

Chase County: Chance Thayer (Imperial).

Columbus: Paula Davis, Zackery Ricker, Nathaniel Wagner, Stephen Wilke.

Columbus Scotus: Thomas Roh.

Crete: Hope Mulgrew, Thomas Wanek.

East Butler: Anthony Aerts (David City), Mari Pesek (Brainard).

Elkhorn: Schyler Drain, Rachel Gant, Richard Goedeken (Omaha), Michael Huefner, Drew Seyl (Omaha), Christopher Smith (Omaha).

Elkhorn Mount Michael: Paul Faryna (Omaha), Evan Freilich, Jeffrey Kucirek (Omaha), Samuel Weitkemper (Omaha).

Elmwood-Murdock: Cicily Ronhovde (Elmwood).

Ewing: Michael Harpster.

Fairbury: Jordan Schlake.

Franklin: Paige Mazour.

Freeman: Andrew Stanley (Firth).

Fremont: Ian Dust, Ashley Lowry, Kelli Sok.

Gering: Jeff Helgerson (Mitchell).

Grand Island: Sarah Faltin, Kevin Frankforter, Mark Kranz, Jordan Schleif, Caleb Schmid, Kyle Schutte, Nicholas Spintig.

Grand Island Central Catholic: Jennifer Jones.

Grand Island Northwest: Jason Palu, Jason Shuda.

Gretna: Karalynn Brown.

Hastings: John Welch.

Hastings St. Cecilia: Courtney Cope, Brian Neilson.

Home school: Katie Booton (Lincoln), Chloe Daly (Lincoln), David Loscutoff (Omaha), Matthew Quintero (Lincoln).

Kearney: Katherine Bush, Imran Hossain, James Jelkin, Kwang Ketcham, Kaitlin Lindsay, Brittany Musil, Joshua Slawski.

Keya Paha County: Jessica Heerten (Springview).

Lakeview: Nathanael Van Velson (Columbus).

Lincoln Christian: Philip Hamilton (Palmyra).

Lincoln East: John Douglas, Solomon Eppel, Alan Fast, Aaron Fluitt, Rachel Haase, Sally Hudson, Kelsey Johnson, Laura Loeck, Brendan Ottemann, Daniel Russell.

Lincoln High: Richard Carlson, Sallie Dietrich, Benjamin Holmes.

Lincoln Lutheran: Lindsay Smith.

Lincoln Northeast: Erin Baker, Ellen Berggren, Andrew McClung, Alexandria Shasteen, Molly Staley, Brian Stevens, Jennifer Suhr.

Lincoln North Star: Brandon Jochum.

Lincoln Pius X: Sofia Balters, James Lange, Elizabeth Morin, Laura Pleskac, Stephanie Sutton.

Lincoln Southeast: Aleksander Blankenau, Marcus Cech, Laura Cerveny, Clifford Cessna, Ross Cheloha, Kirsten Foster, Andrew Ganz, Bertram Gay, Brandon Hugo, Andrew Ruhrdanz, Matthew Sheets, Brian Unger, Kaitlin Voelker, Anne Willborn, Eleanor Wood.

Lincoln Southwest: Erin Bartholomew, Elizabeth Belson, Alicia Bouges, Ashley Brauer, Whitney Buchmann, Rebecca Edwards, Matthew Hansen, Katie Jasa, Andrew Kocarnik, Rebecca Ledder, Christopher Mahlman, Kara Maize, Alyssa Martin, Jessica Nicoll, Leena Padhye, Sena Sayood, Brian Stauffer, Kelsey Swartz, Scott Wood, Thomas Woodward.

Louisville: Jesse Roberts (Plattsmouth).

Millard North: Rajeev Anchan, Laura Bailis, Megan Banghart (Elkhorn), Dominic Berns, Ben Cook, Jordan Focht, Alexander French, Alexander Good, Jonathan Green, Joshua Huber, Lauren Hunter, Sylvia Jarosz, Molly Jergenson, Anna Johnston, Matthew Kuhlenengel, Emily Maack, Brett Major, Theodoric Mattes, Laura Peterson, Kari Phelan, Michael Schaal, Larissa Schultz (Yutan), Andy Siref, Dana Tabor, Lindsay Thomsen, Olga Tomchin, Lela Waters.

Millard South: Erin Bollinger, Heather Hawley, Henry Horton, Karri Huismann, Antonio Jackson, Brent Quandt, Nicholas Stockwell, Kelly Strominger.

Millard West: Michelle Acierno, Douglas Hartwell, Sarah Kettler, Zachary Macholan, William Olson, Jessica Planos, Timothy Szalewski, Francis Van Wetering IV.

Nebraska City Lourdes: Matthew Wigington.

Norfolk: Kristin Divis, Katherine Heineman.

Norris: Levi Nelson (Hickman), Eric Price (Hickman).

North Platte: Nathan Enderle.

Omaha Benson: Grant Lipprand.

Omaha Brownell-Talbot: Kayla Keifer, Juliet Silberstein (Bellevue), Caroline Terry.

Omaha Burke: Mark Bi, Emma Fahrlander, Ellen Ginda, Elizabeth Glismann, Emily Munderloh, Katheryn Paulsen, Kenneth Seidel, Jason Vitek, Joshua Woodruff.

Omaha Central: Joseph Delich, Lindsey Goding.

Omaha Concordia: Stephanie Bardon, Joshua Kanoy (Arlington).

Omaha Creighton Prep: John Berens, Thomas Boscardin, Tom Brush, Ryan Colabello, Stephen Ducey, Corey Georgesen, Lucas Greise, Traylon Harrington, Adam Karnik, Jonathan Meyer, Aaron Mills, Patrick Passarelli, Jeffrey Pierce, Nicholas Quinn, Robert Reed, Neil Sandhoefner, Matthew Wedlock (Bellevue), Tianlu Yuan.

Omaha Duchesne: Kelly Dineen, Margaret Schropp, Lauren Stansbury, Caitlin Sweeney, Ashley Treese.

Omaha Gross: Karlene Cork (Bellevue), Tamara Liechti (Bellevue), Jonathan Ruiz (Papillion), Kara Ryks (Bellevue), Paul Sim (Bellevue).

Omaha Marian: Cannon Biggs, Mary Chapman, Paige Mariucci, Kate May, Jennifer Thielen, Tara Vaughan, Anne Woodruff.

Omaha Mercy: Cassandra Dorland (Papillion), Sarah Lang (Bellevue), Meredith Wright.

Omaha North: Chelsea Dukes, Carley Mattern, Matthew Pinnt.

Omaha Northwest: Katie Miller.

Omaha Skutt: Audrey Faltin (Elkhorn), Rebecca Johnson, Christine Pivovar (Elkhorn).

Omaha Westside: Rachel Anderson, Bradford Ashley Jr., Alexander Cemaj, John Dittrick, Ashley Freyer, Paul Gardner, Brittany Grabow, Maddison Grigsby, Emily Guck, Dana Hamby, Ashley Holdsworth, Max McCann, Jacob Meyer, Rachel Meyer, Courtney Reeves, Victoria Rendell, Brian Warzak, Angela Watkins.

O'Neill St. Mary's: Marcus Zakrzewski.

Papillion-La Vista: Haley Calvin (Papillion), Michael Daugherty (Papillion), Sarah Hegg (La Vista), Robert Molinelli (Papillion), Adam Motz (Papillion), Matthew Schooff (Papillion), Michael Shafer (Papillion), Eric Sundsboe (Papillion).

Papillion-La Vista South: Eliza Buelt (Papillion), Ryan Grahovac (Bellevue), Laura Jones (Papillion), Vanessa King (Papillion), Evan Phillips (Papillion).

Plattsmouth: Brenden Boyle.

Ralston: Veda Darling, Samuel Morgan (Omaha), William Swartz (Omaha).

Saint Paul: Natasha Richardson.

Scottsbluff: Alexander Debrie, Paul Russell.

Seward: Kathryn Dejong (Milford).

South Sioux City: Katie Frank.

Superior: Samantha Myers.

Sutton: Dylan Stuckey (Grafton).

Tekamah-Herman: Nicholas Andrew (Tekamah).

Thayer Central: Tucker Zeleny (Carleton).

Tri County: Cara Waldo (DeWitt).

Valentine: Miles Simmons, Heather Spain.

Waverly: Emily Althouse.

Wayne: Adam Wert.

West Point: Ann Langemeier.

Wilber-Clatonia: Anthony Bates (Wilber).

Wood River: Nicole Peters (Cairo).

York: Joshua Gardner, Kent Sheldon.

Yutan: Jeffrey Wollen.

CONTACT: Joan Kunzman