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SG Chamber recognizes community-minded students
by Susan O'Neill
Three years ago, Sugar Grove resident Sheila Crews’ daughter was approaching her teen years. Crew was working in the midst of a 15-plus-year career in the restaurant management business. Then, at 38 years old, she gave birth to another child.
Crews realized she would be working quite a bit longer than she had anticipated. She said that although she felt blessed with a loving husband and two beautiful children, she felt that something was missing.
“Who benefits from my success as a quick-service restaurant manager?” she asked herself. “What am I giving to my life and to life around me?”
Less than a year later, she found her answers. The mother of two with a bachelor's degree in psychology from St. Xavier's University will return to school in the fall to pursue a nursing degree from Waubonsee Community College.
Crews, with a 13-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old son and a full-time job in the restaurant business, hopes to have a nursing degree in two years.
“I'll continue to support my children's schools, donate to local fundraisers in my neighborhood, and be active in my church, but I'm truly looking forward to the day that I can make a difference both at work and at home,” she said.
Crews is one of three Sugar Grove students who will benefit from a scholarship awarded them by the Sugar Grove Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She will receive a $500 scholarship in the continuing education category.
Alison Lee Krantz and Matthew Johnson, both 2008 high school graduates, will go off to college with $1,000 of financial assistance toward their education.
Krantz plans to obtain a degree in chemical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Johnson will major in computer science at Northern Illinois University.
Each year, the Sugar Grove Chamber awards three scholarships to two deserving high school seniors, a male and a female, and one individual embarking on a continuing education experience.
In addition to academic excellence, the applicants must demonstrate a commitment to community service.
Krantz, who placed 12 out of 700 students at West Aurora High School, was a member of the math team and scholarship bowl her last two years of school.
A member of a student leadership team through her school, Krantz helped organize a program to raise awareness of and avoid school violence, as well as develop a mentoring program. During school, she also volunteered as a math tutor, helping others who did not understand math as well as she does.
“I promise you that next year I will work incredibly hard and never give anything less than my best,” Krantz wrote in a thank-you note to the Chamber scholarship committee.
Johnson carried a 4.0 grade average out of a possible 5.0 at Kaneland High School. He participated in automotive technology I and II and PC repair at the Fox Valley Career Center and designed the 2008 Kaneland Fine Arts Festival website. He worked at McDonald's in Elburn and Froot's in Batavia to help with expenses during high school.
Johnson's community service includes a mission trip to Kentucky with others from the Sugar Grove United Methodist Church. Through the Appalachia Service Project, Johnson and others replaced a kitchen and a bathroom for a family in need.
The Rev. Steve Good said that although the mission trip itself lasts only a week, the young people spend months preparing for it. Good said the time is spent in fundraising, as well as in educating themselves about the area they will visit and its culture. Through this education, they gain a better understanding of why they are doing this work.
“He's a fine young man,” Good said of Johnson. “His whole family is very involved in the church.”
In addition to his structured volunteering, Johnson also mows lawns for fellow Sugar Grove resident Karen McCannon and others, and babysits for neighbors in his subdivision.
08/15/2008
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