Lauren Hughes — senior at Owasso High School (Owasso, Oklahoma) — is the winner of the 2023 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 active membership in WSU’s Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College.

Hughes is the daughter of Karri Lynn Hughes and Joseph Bradshaw Hughes. She was the senior class representative of National Honors Society, captain and coach of the Varsity Mock Trial team. She also designed and built sets for her high school’s stagecraft program; tutored middle school students in English, math and science; and has been a part of the concurrent student program at Tulsa Community College since 2019.

Hughes says her most meaningful involvement in her community was volunteering at the Owasso Baptist Village Retirement Home and Orphanage over the past year. For her, volunteering is the perfect way to provide comfort and a sense of normalcy to the residents within this home.

Hughes is most excited to be part of a community that promotes a culture of support and learning no matter who it is with or where. After graduation, she plans to attend graduate school to obtain a Ph.D. in biology as well as working in a lab studying viruses, pathogens, fungi, parasites and other diseases. She would love to return to Wichita State in the future to become a professor.

Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling almost 22,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

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