Juan Salazar of Lima, Peru, has been admitted to the University of Illinois Springfield for the fall semester of 2026 and awarded a $24,000 Star Scholar Award for tuition over four years. At UIS, he will major in business administration. He will also play on the UIS tennis team.

The scholarship is awarded based on high school GPA and can be renewed if the student maintains college GPA requirements.

Ryhanna Merrifield of Virden, Illinois, has been admitted to the University of Illinois Springfield for the fall semester of 2026 and awarded a $10,000 Star Scholar Award for tuition over two years. At UIS, she will major in pre-nursing.

The scholarship is awarded based on high school GPA and can be renewed if the student maintains college GPA requirements.

In high school, she was involved in track and field, cheerleading and drama club.

Kaylee Kovski of Sherman, Illinois, has been admitted to the University of Illinois Springfield for the fall semester of 2026 and awarded a $10,000 Star Scholar Award for tuition over two years. At UIS, she will major in pre-nursing.

The scholarship is awarded based on high school GPA and can be renewed if the student maintains college GPA requirements.

In high school, she was involved in soccer and cheerleading.  

Can you give a brief timeline of how your career led you to UIS?

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is pleased to present “What is the Poesis of Dis-Possession? Cartographies of Spirit and Signal,” an exhibition featuring the work of Trinidad-born, Chicago-based artist Sherwin Ovid. The exhibition opens Jan. 12 and runs through Feb. 19.