2009.11.18 > For Immediate Release
contact: Beverly Newsam - University Relations
phone: 402.554.2129 - e-mail: bnewsam@mail.unomaha.edu

UNO Students Honored at OWH Distinguished Scholarship Banquet

Omaha - Five University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) students were recognized Tuesday, Nov. 17, at the annual Omaha World-Herald Distinguished Scholarship Banquet at the William H. and Dorothy Thompson Alumni Center.

The scholarship recipients are among the many high school seniors from Nebraska and Iowa who took part in the UNO Distinguished Scholarship competition last spring. The scholarships are used each year to attract top scholars to the university.

The Distinguished Scholarship recipients and their donor organizations:

- Daniel K. Miller (Scottish Rite Foundation of Omaha)

Miller, the son of Jay and Cindy Miller of Blair, Neb., was home-schooled.  He received honor awards for outstanding achievement in calculus and college English from Ft. Calhoun High School.  Active in music, Miller placed first in the Nebraska Federation of Music Clubs Competition and earned second place honors in the Omaha Music Teachers Association Competition.  He is majoring in mathematics at UNO.

- Justin S. Scott (UNO Alumni Association)

Scott, the son of David and Teri Scott of Lenexa, Kan., graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School.  A member of National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society, he served as Student Council Vice President and Student Body Parent Teacher Student Association Liaison.  Scott was active with football, track and field, Advanced Radio and TV, and was an All-State and All-State Academic Hall of Fame Scholar athlete (football).  He received the Dick Purdy Award and four Scholar-Athlete Awards and was a four-time honor roll honoree.  Scott is majoring in international relations and Spanish at UNO.

- Fulton J. Beal (Helen Hansen Fund)

Beal, the son of John and Michelle Beal of Omaha, is a graduate of Sacred Heart Academy.  A National Merit Commended Student, he was a member of Eta Sigma Alpha National Home School Honor Society and volunteered at the Millard Branch Library.  For excellence in piano performance, he was honored with a gold trophy at the 2005 Summer Music Olympics and received superior ratings, in addition to certificates of distinction in theory, in district and state festivals. Beal is majoring in accounting at UNO.

- Benjamin Q. Polk (Isaacson Trust Fund)

Polk, the son of Michael Polk and Susan Polk of Omaha, graduated from Omaha Central High School.  He was named to the honor roll with distinction four times and is a National Merit Finalist and National AP Scholar.  A member of the National Honor Society and award-winning Omaha Central Computer Programming Team, Chess Team and Science Olympiad, he also was active with the Downtown Omaha Clean-Up and Spring into Spring at Lauritzen Gardens.  Polk is majoring in computer science at UNO.

- Daniel G. Miller (Isaacson Trust Fund)

Miller, the son of Greg and Joann Miller of Denison, Iowa, is a graduate of Denison High School.  A member of the National Honor Society, he was academically among the top 10 percent of his class.  Involved with soccer, bowling, tennis, jazz, band and chorus, Miller also participated in church choir, musicals and school community service days. He is majoring in environmental science at UNO.

For more information, call (402) 554-2263.

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The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s metropolitan university. The core values of the institution place students at the center of all that the university does; call for the campus to strive for academic excellence; and promote community engagement that transforms and improves urban, regional, national and global life. UNO, inaugurated in 1968, emerged from the Municipal University of Omaha, established in 1931, which grew out of the University of Omaha founded in 1908.