LHS Senior Wins Colonel Henry Crown Scholarship

Ella Pelen of Lemont High School’s graduating class of 2020 has been awarded one of four prestigious Colonel Henry Crown Scholarships given by Junior Achievement of Chicago each year. The $60,000 scholarship was awarded to Pelen based on her scholastic promise, motivation, moral character, leadership qualities, and good citizenship as well as faculty letters of recommendation and evaluations. The scholarship award also comes with a paid internship for three summers at 10 weeks each with a Colonel Henry Crown affiliated company or agency supported by Crown Family Philanthropies.

Pelen also won second place in the Junior Achievement Officer of the Year Essay Competition, which comes with a $2,000 additional scholarship award. Her winning essay described how being involved in Junior Achievement at Lemont High School has impacted her life.

Among other things, Pelen says, “Junior Achievement has given me the confidence to pursue other leadership roles in my school and develop my professional communication skills.”

Pelen served as President and Team Lead of Management and Leadership during the 2019-2020 school year. The purpose of Junior Achievement is to teach its members financial and entrepreneurial literacy by mentoring them in building a business from the ground up each year. The students then sell stock in the business, procure advertising support, and market the product to the community, while keeping their mission at the forefront during the entire process. LHS’s Junior Achievement faculty advisor is Business Teacher John Aspel.

This year’s product was “Nightmare on State street,” a paperback collection of short stories about reported hauntings in Lemont. The effort won LHS Junior Achievement a “Company of the Year” award, and the club is now competing virtually at the national level.

During the 2019-2020 school year, the LHS Junior Achievement Club donated $2,000 of their profits to Misericordia ($500) and the Lemont Food Pantries ($1,500.) Other officers/team leads included LHS students Claudia Palarz, Marketing, Joseph Spadafora, Supply Chain, Andrew Juarez, Finance, and Christopher Vasvery, Customer Service and Sales.

During her time at Lemont High School, Pelen also served as Vice President of the Future Business Leaders of America and as Publicity Officer for the LHS Leo Club, a junior division of the Lemont Chapter of Lion’s Club International. She played varsity volleyball at LHS for three consecutive years and was enrolled in various honors and advanced placement courses offered by the high school.

Pelen will attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business in the fall to study marketing.