SVHS Senior Lauren Giddings invited to become a Golden Apple Scholar

Lauren Giddings, an Stillman Valley High School (SVHS) senior, has been invited to become a Golden Apple Scholar. This is a high honor as nearly 2,000 students across Illinois applied and she was chosen in an intense and competitive process.

The Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program is a teacher preparation and tuition assistance program for high school seniors and freshman and sophomore Illinois college students who have the determination and drive to be highly effective teachers in Illinois schools-of-need.They prepare aspiring teachers for immediate and lasting success in the most challenging teaching environments.

Scholars receive up to $23,000 in financial assistance for college, inclusive of paid Scholar Institutes, extensive classroom teaching experience, Academic and social-emotional support, job placement assistance and mentoring from their award-winning teaching faculty.

Lauren has a 4.026 GPA and was nominated to NHS and belongs to various student clubs.  She also was just elected to the SVHS May Day Court and voted “Most likely to come back to SVHS and teach.” by her senior classmates.

Lauren’s teacher and her advisor for the Golden Apple scholar application, Bill Polasky stated, “Lauren’s passion for and commitment to the idea of teaching and serving others is readily apparent to anyone who meets her. 

“She is an enthusiastic and dedicated learner herself, a better person, and a born giver. It fills me with pride to see her desire to impact the lives of others by pursuing a career in education. Who she is and what she stands for are so very much a part of the solution to the challenges facing our nation’s students and classrooms.”