April 23, 2024
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McHenry County Historical Society scholarship deadline approaches

Scholarship applicants are asked to write about past public health epidemics

By Northwest Herald staff report

This 1943 poster, from the public campaign to fight polio, features a symbolic representation of death. During the epidemic’s peak in 1952, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with some degree of paralysis. Most of the victims were children. (National Archives and Records Administration)

Time is running out to apply for this year’s Nancy Fike Scholarship.

Named for the former administrator of the McHenry County Historical Society & Museum, the scholarship provides the recipient with $1,000 annually.

To qualify, applicants must be a graduating senior from a McHenry County high school who plans to study education, history or the social sciences. This merit-based scholarship will be given in the winning student’s name to his or her college or university.

Applicants must have a minimum 3.0 GPA; provide two letters of recommendation, one from a faculty member and one from another representative of the community; show proof of community service; and write a minimum 500-word essay relevant to McHenry County.

Essay topics are announced each year by the Society, and this year’s topic asks students to look back at the 1918-19 flu outbreak or the polio epidemic of the 1940s and ‘50s. Full information about the essay requirements can be found online at GotHistory.org.

Applications are also available at GotHistory.org and must be submitted by April 12.