Source: Jim Hohenbary, 785-532-6904, jimlth@k-state.edu
Hometown connection: Muncie, Ind.; Manhattan, Kan.; and Warrensburg, Mo.
News release prepared by: Megan Molitor, 785-532-3452, molitor@k-state.edu
Friday, Oct. 28, 2011
First step to success: K-State nominates students for 2011 Rhodes and Marshall scholarship competitions
MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University has nominated three students to participate in the Marshall and Rhodes national scholarship competitions.
Jim Hohenbary, assistant dean for nationally competitive scholarships, said the nominees for the Rhodes scholarship are: Melanie Wilkos, senior in French and German, Manhattan; Daniel Hornsby, senior in English, Muncie, Ind.; and AnnaMarie Bliss, graduate student in architecture, Warrensburg, Mo. Hornsby and Bliss are also the university's nominees for the Marshall scholarship.
Marshall scholarships are awarded to as many as 40 students each year and provide full funding for one or two years of study in the United Kingdom. Rhodes scholarships are awarded to 32 students each year and provide full funding for one or two years of study at Oxford University in England. Nominees selected as finalists for the Marshall and Rhodes scholarships interview in November.
Wilkos is pursuing a secondary major in international studies, as well as minors in Spanish, business and nonprofit leadership. She has studied abroad at Phillipps-Universitat Marburg in Marburg, Germany, where she took courses in German language, culture, history and conflict mediation. Wilkos has also completed research in German conversation analysis, church volunteerism and the language decline in German dialects in the U.S. She has received several awards and honors, including the Patti Johnson Wilson Foundation Scholarship, NextGen Nonprofit Leaders Program Internship scholarship and stipend, K-State Legacy Scholarship and the K-State Foundation Scholarship. She was selected for membership in Phi Kappa Phi honor society, was president of the French Club and has taught cultural and religious diversity to children through her Pioneer Bible Translators internship. Her volunteer service includes K-State Telefund and the Smurthwaite Scholarship/Leadership House fundraiser. Wilkos graduated from Albert Camus High School in Conakry, Guinea, in West Africa in 2007, and is the daughter of Charles and Stevanie Wilkos.
Hornsby is pursuing a bachelor's degree in creative writing. He is putting his classroom work to good use through a wide array of journals and magazines he has been published in, including his fiction work "Asterius," which will be featured in Unstuck, a literary annual. He also won first place in the poetry competition in Touchstone literary magazine in May 2011 for his work, "The Goddess of Destruction Single Handedly Kills a Chicken Somewhere in Mexico." Hornsby is a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society and Mortar Board, and has been recognized by the Hallam Walker Davis Memorial Scholarship, Putman Scholarship and Next Big Thing entrepreneurship competition. He was an undergraduate leader for Creative Writing Enthusiasts, a writers' society, and the founder and president of Shelf Help, a book donation organization that works with four underprivileged schools. Hornsby graduated from Yorktown High School, Yorktown, Ind., in 2008, and is the son of Jeff and Peg Hornsby.
Bliss plans to receive her master's degree in architecture in May 2012. She was named to the university's semester honors list five times, was selected for membership in Phi Kappa Phi honor society and received the Victor Regnier Architectural Scholarship for Excellence, among other scholarships and honors. She also lived in Italy as a student at Centro Studi Citta di Orvieto, where she studied Italian and modern design while living in the midst of historic architecture. Bliss already has a vast amount of experience already under her belt. She was a summer architectural intern in Overland Park in 2010, and a teaching assistant for the structural systems in architecture class in spring and fall 2010. She has also served as a representative, president and director of the board of The Plot Club in the department of architecture, and has held several positions in the American Institute of Architecture Students at K-State. In addition, Bliss has worked extensively building cabinetry, wiring electrical outlets and building a deck on a post-World War II bungalow home that she and her family renovated. Bliss graduated from the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing in May 2007. She is the daughter of Greg and Gerianne Bliss.
K-State is a national leader among public universities in the total number of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater and Udall scholarship winners for the last 25 years, including eight Rhodes scholars and 11 Marshall scholars.
