Thomas Jefferson Educational Foundation holds award dinner

Steve Kouri is headed to the University of Illinois this fall with an extra grand in his pocket, or knocked off his tuition at the very least.

Kouri, who said he was “just a little bit” nervous about heading off to college, was among 14 recent high school and community college graduates awarded scholarships Friday during the Thomas Jefferson Educational Foundation Inc.’s 29th annual scholarship award dinner, where Gov. Rod Blagojevich was the keynote speaker.

Kouri said it was the first time he had met the governor, and thought, “It was cool.”

The foundation is a combined effort of the area’s various trade groups.

The scholarships are awarded to college-bound students who have physical disabilities that range from cerebral palsy to asthma. Thirteen students were given scholarships for a total of $17,200. Another student received one of state Sen. George Shadid’s legislative scholarships, which provides full tuition and fees for one year at a state school.

All lawmakers are given scholarships to hand out, and Shadid has long donated one to the Thomas Jefferson foundation. Called a “great friend of the foundation,” Shadid, who is retiring in January, was thanked for his commitment and received a standing ovation in honor of his dedication to the foundation.

“I wish we could give every kid in town a scholarship,” Shadid said. “Maybe one day we can.”

Kouri, a graduate of Richwoods High School, was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects more than a half-million Americans. His cognitive skills are not affected, but he has difficult with fine motor skills and speech patterns and uses a wheelchair to get around. But Kouri says he doesn’t spend too much time dwelling on that.

“I don’t really worry about it,” he said, noting that he plans to major in special education.

Blagojevich said he was honored to be the speaker at the event.

“I want you to know that the honor you gave me to be here tonight, it’s also an inspiration to go back to Springfield and keep fighting for the things we’ve been fighting for, which really has been about giving opportunities to people that have a chance to do better and get ahead,” the governor told the crowd.

Award winners were: Kouri, Benjamin Helms, Jessica Kirkwood, and Mathieu Taylor of Richwoods High School; Lindsay Bazzetta of Peoria High; John Cealey of Peoria Notre Dame; and David Reynolds of Woodruff High, who won the Shadid legislative scholarship.

Other winners included: Brittany Meischner of Princeville High; Kyle Swanson of East Peoria Community High; Katie Julien of Pekin Community High; Miles Malone of Henry Senachwine High; Jessica Stevenson of Lewistown High; and Justin Marshall and Angela Venzon of Illinois Central College.

Source: www.pjstar.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 1st, 2006 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Education, Scholarship. Tags: College, Education, Scholarship, Student. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.