By Sarah Buchert

Scholarships are awarded based on the criteria of the holder. Benedictine College is located in Atchison, Kansas, about 30-40 minutes northwest of Kansas City. The Benedictine merit scholarships come in different amounts, Gabriel LeBeau received the highest merit scholarship Benedictine has to offer. The scholarship pays for full tuition and books, leaving him to pay living expenses. He also got into a leadership program that pays for food and half of the living cost.

In order to receive this scholarship, you have to meet their requirements. If you meet their requirements, you are automatically invited to the Scholarship competition at Benedictine College. The competition began on Jan. 21 and lasted for a weekend.

When asked why he chose to go to Benedictine College, Gabe said, “I chose it for the faith aspect because it is a very Catholic school and for the liberal arts background. They have a pretty good pre-med program there so I’m going to major in Biology there. They have strong science. And they also have very strong philosophy, so I’m going to minor in philosophy.”

At the scholarship competition, there were 350 kids. The requirements for the scholarship were “a certain GPA and a certain test score,” says Gabe, “and at the competition there was a spontaneous competition, much like your ACT and SAT, and there was a series of interviews. You got interviewed by faculty and staff to see if you were a candidate for it.”

Only ten out of the 350 kids invited will receive that scholarship. “It’s the highest merit scholarship they offer. It is pretty much free to go there so it is pretty amazing that I get to go,” says Gabe. Gabe has been a part of TPA for many years. He has played football for four years, basketball for three years, track for two years, baseball for three years, and soccer and Cantamus for one year. He has received the liberal arts award every year, the math and science award in his sophomore year, the Iron Athlete award, and many other sports awards.

When asked what advice he would give the younger students, he said, “If you do your homework the tests aren’t as hard as you think they are. And do your reading in Humane Letters and then you’ll start to like what you do.”