The first NIU Cooperative Education Minority Scholarships were awarded to two students of the Cooperative Education program for their academic excellence and community and university activities.

The $500 scholarships were contributed by Midcon Corp., a natural gas pipeline company in Lombard, to sophomore finance major Jesse Taylor and junior psychology major Jennifer Rounds.

Both recipients were required to have a GPA of 3.5 or better and partake in professional and academic activities on and off campus, said Douglas Davis, cooperative education special populations coordinator.

Davis said Cooperative Education is trying to generate more funds for additional scholarships. However, Cooperative Education has several other programs helpful to general students, Davis said. “It (the scholarship) was only one segment of our program.”

Cooperative Education Director William Southern said NIU recently received a $203,950 renewal grant to support the co-op program. Georgia State University-Atlanta and the University of Illinois-Chicago were the only other universities to receive more than $200,000 last year.

Taylor, a native of Chicago and a graduate of Kenwood Academy, is active in NIU’s Organization of Black Business Students. He also is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and is the treasurer of the Black Greek Council.

Rounds, also a Chicagoan and a graduate of Whitney M. Young High School, has served as an NIU Guide, a counselor in NIU’s Minority Peer Counseling Program and alumni liaison for the Black Choir. She has been working on and off campus to finance her education.