Meet our 2018 Scholarship Recipients

Alexandra Marie Casazza, Marquette High School

I am so honored and thankful to receive the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce 2018 Scholarship. 

I am a proud graduate of Marquette High School and have attended Rockwood schools since entering kindergarten. This fall, I will be attending the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis to major in English and pre-law. I also intend to attend law school and pursue a career as an attorney. My goal is to become a family attorney where I will use my skills and training to fight for the rights of abused and neglected children. Ending the cruel cycle of child abuse is an issue that I have always felt strongly about, and having the opportunity to help protect children would be a rewarding and fulfilling career for me personally and professionally.

Ellie DeGraw, Lafayette High School

I am a graduate of Lafayette High school and will be attending the University of Michigan in the fall. I am enrolled in the College of Engineering and plan to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering.

At Lafayette, I was involved in many clubs and played two sports. As a senior, I was on the varsity tennis team that finished second in the state tournament. I also started playing lacrosse my freshman year and made the varsity team junior and senior year. This past year, our team placed second in state.

I was a member of the Lafayette Key Club, the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, the Link Crew, and was president of Women in STEM. As a senior, I helped with the Special Olympics event at Lafayette. I was a peer mediator and a Youth Ambassador for Safe Connections, a nonprofit that assists victims of domestic violence.

Starting in eighth grade, I began volunteering with my mother through the National Charity League (NCL). My time with NCL taught me the importance of serving others.

Kayla Greene, Lafayette High School

I attended Westminster Christian Academy from freshman to junior year and transferred to Lafayette High School my senior year. I will be starting at Washington University in Saint Louis as an Olin Business School student in early June for a summer semester, enrolled in Calculus 2 and Biomedical Ethics. I begin my freshman first semester early August!

I plan on studying mathematics with a basis in economics through the school of Arts and Sciences and Organization/Strategic Management through Olin. If time permits — and my fingers are crossed it does — I want to pursue classes that will fulfill a legal studies minor. Naturally, my major interests may shift slightly while there, but I am excited to explore all that Wash U has to offer. 

I am also in Air Force ROTC through Wash U, and I hope to pursue law school with aspirations of becoming a Judge Advocate General (JAG) to serve my commitment. 

Jerry Zhang, Marquette High School

I have always been a STEM advocate, and throughout my high school, my goal was to bring awareness, engagement and connections about the wonderful fields of science, technology, engineering and math to students. It is my own passion in these areas that guided me to encourage others to uncover their own potential in STEM.

In my school, I lead STEM club to connect peers with science opportunities. I also coordinated the Rockwood Math Tournament for middle school students from all over St. Louis to engage in a fun and unique way to learn math. Outside of school, I have been actively volunteering with the St. Louis Academy of Science for the past six years and engage in the St. Louis community by organizing STEM events which have impacted more than 1,000 aspiring young scientists.

These opportunities have not only reinforced my own interest in science, but also inspired many students around me. I will be continuing my studies in STEM at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this coming fall.