Friends of the Vernon Area Library award two scholarships

The Friends of the Vernon Area Public Library congratulate Melissa Engel on being named the winner of the fourth annual $2000 Allen Meyer Memorial Scholarship and Jeffrey Epstein on being named the recipient of the first ever $500 Honorable Mention award.

Engel lives in Buffalo Grove and is a senior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. She plans to study Anthropology and Human Biology at Emory University in the fall and eventually pursue a career as a pediatric specialist for children with chronic diseases. She was a summer volunteer at the library from 2007-2010. Of the experience, Engel says it "confirmed my passion for giving back to the community as well as my love for working with children, and it lead me to countless other volunteer opportunities."

For the first time ever, the Friends will also confer an Honorable Mention Award. The recipient is Jeffrey Epstein, also a senior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School and a resident of Buffalo Grove. Epstein's flush schedule include school, a part time job, and many extracurricular activities including running his own business. Epstein and a partner recently opened a teen dance club, INFINITY, through a Lake Zurich Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs program. Epstein will matriculate to College of Lake County in the fall, where he plans to pursue a degree in business.

The annual Allen Meyer Memorial Scholarship is sponsored by the Friends of the Vernon Area Public Library in honor of former library director Allen Meyer, who passed away in 2008. The scholarship is awarded to one high school senior in the Vernon Area Public Library District each year. Applicants are required to write an essay illustrating how the library has affected their life or educational goals, along with submitting transcripts that demonstrate academic achievement. This is the fourth year that the Friends have made an award.

The Friends of the Vernon Area Library board president Angela Goodrich will award the scholarship checks to the winners at an after-hours ceremony at the library on Tuesday, May 21, at 6 p.m.

About the Friends of the Vernon Area Library

The Friends of the Vernon Area Library are a group of advocates who support the library and its goals through fundraising and volunteering. Some of the special projects funded by the Friends include the annual Allen Meyer Memorial Scholarship, the Summer Reading Club paperback book giveaway, new audiovisual equipment  and an art gallery hanging system for the library's meeting room, and the ongoing “Books for Babies” initiative.

About the Vernon Area Public Library District

The Vernon Area Public Library District serves a population of 42,900 within a 29-square-mile area that includes all of Lincolnshire and Prairie View, and parts of Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Riverwoods, Vernon Hills, and unincorporated Vernon and Ela townships. For more information about the library and its services, visit http://www.vapld.info.