Triton's Pappas Named Coca Cola Gold Scholar Award Recipient

Vicky Pappas, a first-year student at Triton College, was recently awarded the Coca-Cola Gold Scholar Award winning $1,500 in scholarship money.
This annual recognition program administered by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society honors outstanding community 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. Pappas has demonstrated all of those qualities and more.
Experiencing the effects and severity of Alzheimer's Disease at an early age when her grandfather was diagnosed with the disease, Pappas focused on a serious goal for herself - receiving a bachelor's degree in neuroscience to pursue graduate work and further the field of neurodegenerative research.
While receiving her high school diploma from Elmwood Park High School in less than a year through the Triton College High School Completion Program, Pappas concurrently pursued her college education at Triton and will be graduating this May as a member of the Class of 2010.
Over the past year, while serving as the vice president of Fellowship and the vice president of Leadership of the Triton College Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Pappas designed the Homeless for the Night Charitable Food Drive, and with PTK team members set up a receiving station outside of the Jewel food store in Melrose Park, collecting donations and delivering the goods to a local shelter. Vicky is also a member of Triton's Scholars Program, volunteers as a Triton tutor in biology, chemistry and English, and has also been invited by the Union League Club of Chicago to be a member of the Rotaract Club of Chicago.
Accepted into Harvard and Mount Holyoke College on full scholarships, Pappas is holding out on picking a school to further her studies until after graduating from Triton. She is currently waiting for acceptance letters from Yale, Brown University and Johns Hopkins University.
"I wanted to prove to myself that I could do anything that I put my mind to," Pappas said. "If you set goals for yourself, anything is possible. After hearing about winning the Coca-Cola Gold Scholar Award I was so taken back. To be chosen as one of the top 50 students in the country is such an honor."
On April 19, Pappas will be featured in an article by USA Today announcing her scholastic achievement and also has a chance at winning the Coca Cola Foundation's New Century Scholar Award - an honor that is granted to the top student in the state and awards a $2,000 stipend in scholarship money.
Triton College congratulates its Class of 2010 Coca-Cola Gold Scholar Award recipient Vicky Pappas on this outstanding achievement and applaud her as she pursues her educational goals!