Realizing the Dream

Trine's Straub receives scholarship

Trine University sophomore Arik Straub of Columbia City  was among Indiana first-generation college students to receive a Realizing the Dream Scholarship at an annual awards banquet in Indianapolis on Saturday, Nov. 8.

Arik Straub, center, received a Realizing the Dream Scholarship from the Independent Colleges of Indiana and the Lilly Endowment at an annual banquet in Indianapolis Nov. 8. With Straub is his mother, Deb, right, and Columbia City High School teacher Thomas Lough, left, who encouraged Straub to attend college.

The Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), through the support of the Lilly Endowment, offers Realizing the Dream, a program that honors first-generation students who have excelled academically and in leadership and campus activities during their freshman year at Indiana colleges. A Lilly Endowment grant enabled ICI and Realizing the Dream to contribute $2,000 toward Straub’s continuing college education.

The program acknowledges the role that parents and teachers play in determining the direction a student takes while progressing through school. After each college chooses a student, the students name teachers in elementary or secondary school who most influenced their decision to attend college. Those teachers are given $1,000 professional development awards in recognition of their impact on that special student.

Attending the dinner with Straub was Thomas Lough, his Columbia City High School advanced placement English composition and literature teacher, who encouraged Arik to continue in higher education.

Straub, an electrical engineering major at Trine, plays football and helps fellow students study, either through small groups or one-on-one. He said Moss Street Apartment residents relate to one another like family members, help each other out, and socialize as a large group.

He is the son of James Straub Jr. and Deb Straub of Columbia City.