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This years winners of the Forward, Together Forward scholarships continue a 14-year history of recipients who reflect the best that the NIU student body has to offer, both inside and outside of the classroom.

These students, each of whom will receive a $5,000 scholarship, exude the qualities that the award was created to honor and each stands as an outstanding tribute to those in whose honor the scholarship was created: Gayle Dubowski, Catalina Garcia, Julianna Gehant, Ryanne Mace and Dan Parmenter the five Huskies lost on Feb. 14, 2008.

The five recipients, who were honored in ceremonies in May, have all excelled inside and outside of the classroom. All have demonstrated leadership, determination, a commitment to service and a desire to make the world a better place after graduation.

Read on to learn more about the 2022 Forward, Together Forward Scholars.

A true Huskie since birth

Abigail Hostman says that she was born with Huskie DNA in her blood, which is why she was so excited to follow in her fathers footsteps and attend NIU. She hasnt wasted a moment of her time since she arrived on campus in the fall of 2020.

Hostman, who grew up in Cary, is a student in the NIU College of Business where she is double-majoring in human resource management and marketing, with a minor in Spanish. Despite the demands of such an aggressive academic load she has been very active on campus.

As a freshman, she was elected president of the NIU Society for Human Resource Management, a position typically reserved for upper division students. That impressed Professor of Management Mahesh Subramony, who advises the organization.

To take on this position during the pandemic is in itself a testament to her character, but her performance in her role brings to the fore her tremendous leadership potential, Subramony says, noting that, during Hostmans time as president, the groups executive board created annual goals and spearheaded two service-learning initiatives at area high schools.

She is the youngest and most engaged leader that I have come across in the last 12-plus years of my involvement with the organization, Subramony says. She is a true Huskie positive, energetic, hard-working, sincere and full of integrity.

In addition to her work with SHRM, Hostman has served as treasurer and service chair for NIUs chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success and received that organizations Shining Star and Induction awards. She is also enrolled in the Honors Program at NIU and lived in the Honors House for two years.

Hostman accomplished all of these things despite being born with a hearing impairment, which was overcome through surgery and years of speech therapy, an experience that inspired her.

I want to show everyone that you can overcome any setbacks in life, regardless of the challenge, she says. My experiences at NIU will help me positively impact my community. Many people impacted my world, and I want to pay that forward. I am motivated to help other people the way they helped me.

Traveling on his mind

Ask Cole Boni about what he hopes his future will hold, and you had better be prepared to listen in three languages.

While attending high school in Oswego, Boni, who just completed his freshman year at NIU, attained the Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy in both Spanish and French, so, naturally, he is majoring in biomedical engineering. However, his linguistic skills will not go to waste, as he hopes to pursue graduate degrees in Finland, where he plans to focus on tissue engineering.

After obtaining my doctorate, I hope to go to other countries to experience their cultures, languages and all they have to offer, Boni says, naming Iceland and New Zealand as two countries where he hopes to live and work.

For now, Bonis attention is on his work at NIU, where he is part of the Honors Program and maintains a near-perfect GPA.

I rarely see a student like Cole, says mathematics instructor Brian Veitch. I believe his commitment to his education, his excellent communication skills and his ability to have meaningful discussions in a course so few excel in deserves to be rewarded and acknowledged. Hes a great example of what an NIU Huskie student can be.

Outside of the classroom, Boni is also actively engaged in the LGBTQIA+ community floor, where he has found a sense of belonging. It is a place where I feel comfortable with others and I can use the communitys resources to better myself and everyone else, he says.

Discovering her potential

It was the spring of 2019, during her second semester at NIU, that Hannah Schaumberg realized that she had much more potential than she gave herself credit for, and she set out to realize it with a vengeance.

As someone who was adopted from China, she became active in organizations that reflected her cultural heritage, including Circle K International (where she received the Marie Anderson Outstanding Club Member Award), the Chinese Club (where she served as president) and the Southeast Asia Club (where she served as treasurer).

She also sought out organizations that related to her passion for art, including the National Art Education Association (where she served as vice president) and the Student Advisory Committee in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She also racked up more than 200 hours as a Huskie Service Scholar and serves as a peer counselor. Her efforts earned her awards and accolades including a Golden Apple scholarship and the prestigious Kevin D. Knight Leadership Award.

Through it all she has maintained a near perfect GPA. More importantly, she discovered a passion within herself for art education. I believe everyone should have the chance to learn how art can benefit them. I would love to teach high schoolers in a rural community, she says, hinting that she would like to do so in her hometown of Sterling. I hope to bring back what I learned at NIU to my community and show them that we can achieve anything we set our minds to, she said.

Paul Kassel, dean of the NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts, who has known Hannah throughout her time at NIU, has no doubt she can attain whatever goal she sets for herself. She is a formidable presence on campus and a leader of organizations, Kassel says. Hannahs potential for future achievement is limited only by what is possible in 24 hours!

A leader and a motivator

While at NIU, Jacob Eul decided to reach for the stars or, at the very least, the planet Mars.

Eul, who recently completed his sophomore year and is studying computer science, started down that path when he joined the Mars Rover Team. There, he works with students from across the university to design and build vehicles that can withstand the rigors of space travel and the harsh conditions on the red planet. He is part of a team developing software that would allow the vehicle to navigate the rough terrain of Mars.

Not all of his activities are quite as out of this world.

He also works as a laboratory assistant in the Computer Science Data, Devices and Interaction Laboratory, and is collaborating with a fellow computer science student on a project with Argonne National Laboratory researchers to build a web application for collecting and formatting data for scientific publications.

When not working on his programing, Eul, who maintains a GPA of 3.8, and is part of the University Honors Program, works as a community advisor in a campus residence hall.

Being a member of the NIU community means being the best student and community member that I can be. For me, that means not only doing well in my studies but also engaging in the communities around me, Eul says.

His commitment to making the world a better place extends to his plans for the future. Eul hopes that his NIU education will allow him to develop software that improves and enriches peoples lives by automating routine tasks, freeing up time for more substantive work. He also dreams of creating his own business to teach children how to program.

Professor of Computer Science Pratool Bharti has no doubt that Eul will turn those dreams into a reality

Jacobs personal qualities are as impressive as his intellectual abilities. He has the skill to motivate people and the leadership qualities to make others sail through trying times, Bharti says. He possesses every quality that is required to achieve his future goals.

Improving the world for all

Stormy Kara is a Huskie who is going places, though likely not by car.

Throughout their time at NIU (Karas pronouns are they, their) Kara has participated in a number of projects, both inside and outside of the classroom, that reflect their desire to see a society less reliant on automobiles.

That work has included creating a YouTube site highlighting local train stations for rail enthusiasts, an internship with the Chicago Transit Authority and participation in a sociological study analyzing why some people choose to travel by water taxis to and from Chicagos Chinatown.

Stormy embodies what a persistent, gritty, Huskie does, because they collected the data during the summer of 2020, during difficult times, says Professor of Sociology Carol Walther, who helped oversee the project. I am confident that these data will produce a sociological article (written by Kara) informed by ethnic theory of entrepreneurship, specifically related to the concept of panethnicity.

Professor Randy Casperson, who teaches filmmaking, says he believes that Karas interest in transportation underlies a broader commitment to building stronger communities. Their connection to and advocacy for mass transportation seems foundational to Stormys intellectual curiosity and overall concern for seeking alternatives to the status quo and broadening their own worldview as well as, with their current and future media work, broadening an audiences understanding of the way communities work, Casperson says.

Kara, of Charleston, Ill., just completed their junior year, and has a near-perfect GPA while double-majoring in communication and sociology. They are an active member of the Pride movement, which works to secure a safer, more equitable world for members of the LGBTQ community.

They believe that being a Huskie includes working for the betterment of the world for all.

A Huskie is proactive in improving their community by taking advantage of opportunities to do so, whether they be large-scale community service projects or something as simple as picking up litter outside of a dorm, Kara says.

Media Contact: Joe King

About NIU

Northern Illinois University is a student-centered, nationally recognized public research university, with expertise that benefits its region and spans the globe in a wide variety of fields, including the sciences, humanities, arts, business, engineering, education, health and law. Through its main campus in DeKalb, Illinois, and education centers for students and working professionals in Chicago, Naperville, Oregon and Rockford, NIU offers more than 100 areas of study while serving a diverse and international student body.

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Forward, Together Forward scholarship winners continue the tradition of excellence | NIU Newsroom - NIU Newsroom