Appleton high school grads win McCain scholarships

Three of the five 2010 McCain Group Scholarship recipients from the United States attend high schools in Appleton.

The graduating seniors are Mai Bao Thao of Appleton North High School and Pa Der Lee and Choua Xiong, both of Appleton East High School.

Each recipient who attends a university will receive $16,000, or $4,000 a year, over the next four years. Students who enroll in a two-year technical or nursing program will receive $9,500, which will be split over the next two years.

Scholarship winners are selected based on their scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities, financial need, an essay and a personal interview.

Mai Bao Thao plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Mai attended the Appleton Career Academy, a charter school within Appleton North. She belonged to the Design Club and the Hmong Club and is a recipient of the Academic Excellence Award. She hopes to combine the fields of sociology and design to make a difference in her community.

When she gets her associate degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, Pa Der Lee plans to start her own company. She wants to travel the world to learn different cultural traditions and values that would allow her to build a nonprofit organization that would help the global community. She has received academic awards including the National Honor Society and the Golden Bridges Award and is on the honor roll.

Choua Xiong is a member of East's National Honor Society, the Hmong Club and the Courier staff, among other activities, and is the recipient of the Academic Award. She has not decided where she will attend college in the fall or what her major will be.

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