Two high school seniors, including one from Salina, have been awarded the highest scholarship available at Kansas Wesleyan University. According to the school, Eli Truhe, from Salina High School South, and Samantha Chesser, from Maize High School, each earned the prestigious Eisenhower KWU Presidential Scholarship.

The Eisenhower Scholars Competition was held on January 28th. It gave any student who qualified for the KWU Presidential Scholarship a chance to earn a 90% tuition scholarship.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated The Eisenhower Scholarship in the late 1960s. He selected KWU, the closest institute of higher education to his childhood home of Abilene as the university that would house his named scholarship that would be presented to students with high academic achievement. The university resurrected the scholarship after a hiatus of several years, and a half-day competition was designed to select the winners. Participating students interviewed with faculty members, participated in a group problem-solving/logic activity, took a quantitative reasoning/logic test and were asked to write an essay based on a speech President Eisenhower gave to the United Nations in December 1953.

Truhe, an academic standout at Salina High School South, has a 3.8 GPA. He intends to major in business and play tennis for the Coyotes. Chesser also has a 3.8 GPA. She plans on majoring in physics/mathematics and playing volleyball at KWU.

KWU offers numerous academic scholarships as well as financial awards that recognize students for activities and involvement in high school. Academic scholarships are calculated on a composite formula using GPA and ACT scores. Visit www.kwu.edu/scholarships for more information.