Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:00 am
in contest
Hannaway will get Web site's scholarship to help her attend Vanderbilt University
By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
Philomath High School senior Kayleen Hannaway has won a $20,000 college scholarship in an on-line competition.
Hannaway was competing against Phuong Duong of Fort Smith, Ark., in the Zinch.com "March Madness" competition, where on-line voters decided who would win the scholarship, based on the competitors' on-line profiles.
When the voting ended late Wednesday morning, Hannaway had received 7,235 votes to 6,490 for Duong.
The 18-year-old Hannaway competed against 63 other competitors in the on-line competition, which is being sponsored by a Web site that links students with college recruiters.
The competition was based on a March Madness-style tournament in which seniors competed against each other in brackets based on regions.
People across the country were allowed to vote in the competition, and Hannaway used social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, in addition to rallying friends and members of her church to garner votes.
Hannaway said she will use the money to help pay tuition at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where she is planning to pursue a degree in neuroscience, focusing on the way that autistic children learn.
She is scheduled to graduate in June from Philomath High School. She currently has a 4.0 grade-point average. Her extracurricular activities include softball, volleyball and music.