On Saturday, June 19th 2004, Scholarship recipients and their families were invited to attend a presentation ceremony in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It was an opportunity for the students to meet each other, as well as the Judges who were an integral part of the scholarship process. Maria Magnus was in attendance to meet each student and personally congratulate them on their hard work and admittance into college. All of the students and their families were asked to work hard, and commit to making this country and world a better place in the future by passing along the special gift of help, to someone in need.

We have maintained communication with each student and their Mentors, and are delighted to say that 49 of the selected students have started school and have successfully made it through their first semester. The median grade point average for the Fall 2004 semester was 3.13 on a 4.0 scale. This is a remarkable number since 63% of them are living away from home on campus at colleges and universities across the country and statistics show that freshman year away from home is one of the hardest hurdles for students to overcome.