Rory and Gail Heltsley Steidl Scholarship

The Rory and Gail Heltsley Steidl Scholarship is awarded to full-time undergraduate or graduate students at Eastern Illinois University who are majoring in specific fields including Bachelor of General Studies, Elementary Education, Special Education, Nursing, Family and Consumer Sciences, Sociology (with criminal justice coursework), Journalism, or Kinesiology and Sports Studies. Recipients must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA and demonstrate commitment to their chosen field through a 500-word statement outlining career goals and aspirations. The scholarship has a unique geographical preference system, rotating recipients every other year between Charleston High School graduates (even fiscal years) and Kansas High School graduates (odd fiscal years). If no eligible students are available from the designated school, the scholarship defaults to the other school, then to other Coles County high schools, and finally to schools in surrounding counties. Financial need is considered only as a tiebreaker. This award is announced in the Spring semester and awarded the following Fall semester. Recipients may reapply in subsequent years if they continue to meet all eligibility criteria, making this a potentially renewable scholarship opportunity.