CEF Celebrates the Class of 2021

On June 10, 2021, Chicago Engineers Foundation (CEF) honored the high school and college students named as 2021 Incentive Award recipients.  Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, CEF hosted a virtual celebration to honor the 72 young women and men receiving scholarship awards to support their engineering studies.

The CEF Class of 2021 are Chicago students pursuing engineering careers. They all graduated from city public, private, parochial, and charter high schools. Many commuted across Chicago daily to attend their schools, from neighborhoods on the south, west, and north sides, as well as many suburban towns.

The Class of 2021 is almost equally female and male students.  More than 40% are the first generation in their family to attend college.  The average GPA among all of the recipients is 3.70.  Further despite the pandemic, among the high school recipients, the average of their community service hours this year is 150!

CEF’s award recipients are studying many facets of engineering in college ranging from civil and mechanical to biomedical, aerospace, and computer science. They are attending some of the finest engineering schools in the country from local universities to programs nationwide.   CEF award recipients are in engineering classrooms across the country and represent some of the best of the next generation of engineers.

A highlight of this year’s Celebration was the announcement that each student will receive modest increases to their financial awards going forward.  Thanks to generous donation support, starting with the Class of 2021, students have the opportunity to seek renewed support totaling $5,600 over four years of undergraduate study!  This is the first award increase in more than five years and the Engineers Foundation is grateful for every gift making this opportunity possible for students when they need it the most.

CEF Incentive Awards are made possible by individuals, families, professional associations, and companies committing to fully fund awards for the recipients. Some sponsors support annual awards for different students each year, and others may follow specific students through 4 years of study. The sponsorship program grows each year, and CEF is honored by every partnership. Many thanks to all of the 2021 Incentive Award Sponsors.

The leadership of the Chicago Engineers’ Foundation extends congratulations to the Class of 2021!