Schools

Fremd Senior Receives $10,000 Scholarship from GuildScholar Program

Alex Taikwel is legally blind, and one of 16 college-bound students from 12 states to receive the scholarship based on merit, essays, leadership and community service.

William Fremd High School senior Alex Taikwel, who is legally blind, is one of 16 college-bound students across 12 states to receive a $10,000 GuildScholar program scholarship.

The first requirement of GuildScholar is legal blindness. Other parameters applicants are judged by include academic scholarship, leadership, community service and extracurricular activities.

According to Gordon Rovins with the GuildScholar program, Taikwel was an extremely strong candidate in the pool of close to 60 young people who applied.

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“Alex is on the math team, National Honor Society, he volunteers at a local medical center and his two letters of recommendation were glowing,” Rovins said.

His personal essay, Rovins said, was demonstrative of his high aptitude. 

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Taikwel, who wants to be a doctor, was described as being kind, curious, reliable and brimming with intellectual curiousity through letters of recommendation from his teachers, Rovins said.

Rovins added that his standardized test scores were, “out the roof.”

The young man has applied to a number of schools including University of Chicago, Northwestern, Princeton and University of Illinois at Chicago among others.

“Alex is the kind of young man who, due to all of his strengths, will do very, very well,” Rovins said.

Taikwel was the only recipient from Illinois. Other winners reside in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

The GuildScholar program was created, in part, through a grant from the Jeannette A. Klarenmeyer Trust.

 For information on the GuildScholar Program's scholarships for the 2014 academic year, contact Gordon Rovins at 212-769-7801 or e-mail guildscholar@guildhealth.org.   


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