Whiz Kid: Meghan Marie Yusk

Grayslake Patch is featuring local kids, youth groups or sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about these amazing kids, of any age, and we'll highlight their success in our Whiz Kids column.

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Grayslake Patch Whiz Kid of the Week:

Student/School:

Meghan Marie Yusk, a senior at

Accomplishment:

Yusk has been awarded a four-year scholarship to Carthage College.

Keys to Success:

Last summer, Yusk toured Carthage College and learned of scholarship opportunities for world language students.  Yusk is currently a student in Advanced Placement French at Grayslake North.  The class is taught entirely in French and students are expected to communicate totally in French during class. 

Yusk is co-president of French Club; traveled to France in 2010 as part of Grayslake North High School’s trip to France, where she had lived with a French family and visited Paris and Provence. She and her family had hosted a student from France last year as part of Grayslake North High School’s program, done in conjunction with the group Share America.

The day of the competition for the scholarship, Yusk was shown a video clip of a French movie. Then she was required to write an essay, summarizing the video and giving her assessment of the clip. In addition, she was interviewed in French by a professor from Carthage about the qualities she possesses, her experiences in French and her life goals.

Yusk is thrilled with the scholarship, as are her parents, Tim and Nancy. She will receive a $20,000 per year scholarship, renewable each year, for a total of $80,000. This scholarship will pay two-thirds of her expenses. She must maintain her GPA at Carthage and major in French. She plans on having a double-major, although she’s not certain yet what the other major will be.

Yusk is described in a release from , as a hard-working student with an extraordinary work ethic and life-goals. She plans to return to France at some point during her studies, possibly for a semester during her junior year at Carthage.