Gabe Kimuri, a senior at Lawrence Free State High School, is the winner of the 2019
Lenora N. McGregor Endowed Scholarship at Wichita State University.
The Lenora N. McGregor Endowed Scholarship awards up to $26,000 over four years to
an incoming freshman student who has demonstrated academic excellence, has an academic
vision for the future and who expresses an interest in advancing knowledge through
individual learning.
The McGregor scholar agrees to maintain membership in WSU’s Dorothy and Bill Cohen
Honors College. The Cohen Honors College engages ambitious students through meaningful
coursework, interdisciplinary study, collaborative research or creative activity,
and community service. It offers a small college environment with the resources of
a major research university.
Kimuri is the son of Eric and Larisa Kimuri and the first of three children. He plans
to major in aerospace engineering and music performance at Wichita State. Gabe was
born in Kansas City, Kansas, and grew up in Lawrence. Throughout high school, Gabe
has excelled in his academics and been involved in a variety of extracurricular activities.
Along with advanced physics and math classes, he has studied Spanish for five years.
He plays varsity soccer and track and is the principal violist in the Free State High
School Orchestra. He also participated in the Kansas City Youth Symphony, Topeka Youth
Symphony and Lawrence Community Orchestra, and was selected for the All-State Orchestra
the past two years.
Kimuri loves spending time with his family and enjoys nature and exercise. He makes
a point to stay up to date with modern advancements in technology. He credits the
start of his interest in aerospace engineering to when he visited a family friend
who had built a plane in his garage and showed him all the steps. Kimuri was only
in middle school, but knew he had found his calling.
Upon graduation, Kimuri plans to pursue a career in the aerospace industry. He chose
WSU because of the strength of the engineering program and the aviation opportunities
in the area. He wants to be a part of the Cohen Honors College in order to delve deeper
into his topics of study, develop close relationships with his instructors and have
a strong, well-rounded understanding of the concepts in the field.
The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the
greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly
15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas
of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and
12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use
areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to
the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on
Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.
