Batavia Chamber of Commerce announces winners of 2024 Inspire Scholarships

The Batavia Chamber of Commerce recognized winners of the 2024 Inspire Scholarships on May 14 at Senior Recognition Night at Batavia High School.

All winners are members of the 2024 graduating class of Batavia Public School District 101. The financial award of $1,000 will be paid directly to the institute the recipient will be attending, according to a release by the Chamber.

”We are happy to support our community and our membership with this program,” Margaret Perreault, president and CEO of the Chamber, said in the release. “Because we are looking for future inspiring leaders, the scholarship application explored this sentiment. The answers we received were inspirational, making it difficult to choose only one awardee in each category.”

The awardees, their intended college and the scholarship category:

• Inspiring Entrepreneurship: A scholarship to reward a student who has interest in starting a business to encourage consideration to locate in Batavia someday. Rabia Jafari is the awardee in this category and will attend DePaul University. Jafari helped launch Impact Threads, a clothing brand that gives 15% of profits to different causes each month. The first design brought $1,000 in revenue. She is planning to launch her own clothing brand this summer, working to expand the line while attending classes in the fall.

• Inspiring Women in Business: A scholarship to reward a female high school student interested in a business major to encourage more females to pursue these fields. Isabella Jonas is the awardee in this competitive category and will attend Illinois State University where she hopes to pursue a degree in human resources. She cited a family friend, Katie Pratts, as a successful businesswoman. Jonas said Pratts’ success has taught her that you can do anything you want to do by putting in the time and hard work.

• Inspiring Contributors to a Batavia Chamber Business: A scholarship to reward a high school student for working for a Batavia Chamber business during high school. Rachel Rempert is the awardee in this category and plans to attend the University of Loyola Chicago with a major in criminal justice and a minor in psychology. Since July 2021, Rempert has worked as a server at Covenant Living at the Holmstad, a job she said has taught her teamwork, patience and keeping calm, all of which she believes will benefit her in the field that she has chosen. It is Rempert’s 10-year goal to be in the field of forensic science working for the FBI.

• Inspiring Career and Technical Achievers: A scholarship to reward a high school student interested in a trade or career in manufacturing. Adam Deitchman is the awardee in this category and will attend Waubonsee Community College to continue his pursuit of a career in fire science. He said his interest in this career began with Boy Scouts and was cemented when he began attending programs at the Fox Valley Career Center. Deitchman is in the cadet program at the Sugar Grove Fire Protection District.

“We sincerely wish our scholarship winners, along with all the top-notch applicants, much success as they continue their educational journey,” Perreault said in the release. “Congratulations to all.”