For Immediate Release: July 29, 2009

Contact:
Kevin Knudson (kknudson@honors.ufl.edu, 352-846-6083)

UF chooses eight students for Lombardi Scholars Program

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- The University of Florida has named eight Florida high school seniors to the Lombardi Scholars Program.

Each year, students who exemplify former UF President John V. Lombardi’s commitment to academic excellence, community service, leadership and public responsibility are selected as recipients of this prestigious award program. Lombardi Scholars will receive a scholarship for four years of study at UF; they will also be matched with a faculty mentor in their field and will receive support for overseas study and leadership experiences.

Florida high schools were invited to nominate one student, and winners were selected from 135 nominees and 17 finalists. The program is in its eighth year, and the eight additional students will maintain the program at 30 participants.

Students in the first year of the program spend six weeks participating in an overseas study program in Merida, the capital of the Yucatan in Mexico during the summer before they begin at UF. All students will participate in the honors program.

The eight Lombardi Scholars who have accepted the John V. Lombardi scholarship beginning with the 2009-2010 academic year are:

Tyler Benjamin: Benjamin is a senior in the International Baccalaureate Program at Hillsborough High School in Tampa. He is one of 19 regional presidents of the North American Federation of Temple Youth in the U.S. and Canada, and was recently elected the North American programming vice president. He is a round table officer for his school’s Spanish Honor Society and a member of the National Honor Society as well. He has earned two varsity letters and was twice named Rower of the Year for the high school crew team. He has been a senior counselor at a summer camp for underprivileged elementary students in Atlanta.

Meg Cusack: Cusack is a senior at H.B. Plant High School in Tampa. She has dedicated many hours to volunteering with the Child Abuse Council. She was awarded the Hillsborough County Youth in Philanthropy Award in recognition of her volunteer work. Cusack is president of the Beta Tutoring Program and is an active member of the French, Spanish, Beta and National Honor societies as well as the Kiwanettes Club. A student of languages, Cusack has studied Spanish, Mandarin, and French and has received the highest level of achievement at state Spanish and French competitions. Cusack plans to double major in Spanish and education and minor in French.

Megan Hamilton: A National Merit Finalist and a National Hispanic Scholar, Hamilton is a senior at West Shore High School Melbourne, FL where she is an active member of several academic organizations, including Mu Alpha Theta and the Calculus and Statistics teams. She has also represented her school on the Brevard County Academic All-Star team for the past two years and has competed in six regional math competitions since 2007. She is president of West Shore's Spanish Honor Society. Hamilton also excels at art and graphic design, and her work has placed first and second in the digital art category of the Space Coast Student Art Festival. She plans to earn a dual degree in mathematics and graphic design.

Zachary Kaufman: Kaufman is a senior at Nova High School in Davie, where he has been recognized as a National Merit Finalist and a National AP Scholar. He has enthusiastically played piano for many years and received superior awards at the Broward County Music Federation. Kaufman has also been actively involved with volunteering at the A Child Is Missing Alert Program for the past three summers where he raised money to help locate and recover missing children. In addition, he has held a job at the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science for the past five years. He plans to study engineering in college.

Megan Kovacs: Kovacs is a senior at Wellington High School in Wellington, FL where she has consistently earned superior at district and state assessments of advanced flute solos and woodwind ensembles and has been voted Outstanding Musician every year by her peers. Kovacs has been accepted into district, tri-state, and national honors bands and serves as woodwind co-captain and flute section leader. She has been recognized as an AP Scholar with Distinction and a National Merit Commended Scholar. Kovacs is the treasurer of Wellington High School’s Tri-M Music Honor Society, as well as a member of National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. Kovacs plans to major in neurobiological sciences with a minor in music theory.

Jeff Neely: Neely is a senior at J.M. Tate High School Cantonment, FL, where he has been voted “The Most Likely to Succeed” by his peers. Currently the co-captain of his school’s academic team, Neely is also a member of his school’s Senior Executive Board is a guitarist for the Tate Symphonic Jazz Band. During his sophomore and junior years, he ran with his school’s track and cross-country teams, earning four letters in total. He has earned the rank of third-degree black belt in the martial art of Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do. In 2008, he won a gold medal for forms and a bronze medal for sparring at the International Tang So Do Federation’s 10th World Tournament. He plans to study mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Valerie Polcz: Polcz is a senior in the International Baccalaureate Program at Atlantic High School in Del Ray Beach, FL. An active member of her school’s Classical Music Club and Mu Alpha Theta Chapter, Polcz placed sixth and second in the History of Math competition at the Florida Mu Alpha Theta Convention. As president and founder of the Rho Kappa Honor Society, she helped to organize a week-long learning and awareness program for Black History Month and directed several fundraisers whose proceeds were donated to the Delray Beach Historical Society. She has volunteered for three years in the pediatrics unit of West Boca Medical Center and plans to major in biochemistry before pursuing a career in medicine.

Hillary Wehry: A National Merit Finalist, Wehry is an International Baccalaureate diploma candidate at Pensacola High School where the faculty of the science, math, and history departments have each year recognized her as the student most qualified in each of these disciplines. She was selected to be a research assistant to the physics department chair at the University of West Florida in the summer of 2008. Wehry serves on the teen board of directors of Chain Reaction where she leads an organ donation awareness week in local area high schools and directs a program called Voluntology, which teaches science experiments to underprivileged children.