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Elgin Community College student becomes top state scholar
04.06.2009 – USA Today named Elgin Community College (ECC) student Andrea
Andrada as a member of the First Team of the All-USA Community College
Academic Team during the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
convention in Phoenix, Ariz. on Monday, April 6.
Andrada, of Elgin, is among 20 community college students nationwide named to
the First Team and is the only First Team recipient in Illinois. She is the third ECC
student named to the First Team in the award’s 19-year history. Andrada also
received a $2,500 scholarship from USA Today.
In addition, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation named Andrada as a New Century
Scholar, a first for an ECC student. This award is given to the person in each state
who scores the highest in the application process. A $2,000 scholarship
accompanies the honor.
The awards are part of an annual recognition program administered by the Phi
Theta Kappa Honor Society. The program honors outstanding two-year college
students who show intellectual rigor in their course of study, demonstrate academic,
leadership and civic growth, and who extend their community college education to
better themselves, their schools and their communities.
“I am really humbled that the judges thought I was worthy of these designations,”
Andrada says. She graduates from ECC in May and continues her studies this fall at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her ultimate goal is to become a
lawyer.
Andrada, a graduate of Burlington Central High School, says ECC inspires her to do
more. She is active in clubs such as the Asian Filipino Club and Student
Government. She is proud of her work as the sole student representative on the
ECC Board of Trustees, where she helped initiate a program where students could
rent textbooks at the ECC Bookstore instead of purchasing them.
Other achievements include winning a Girl Scouts Gold Award (similar to the Boy
Scouts Eagle Scout badge) f