Two DeKalb residents, one an NIU student, competed with students across the nation to win research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities Grant.

Noel Milan, NEH spokesman, said only 19 percent of all the applicants won the award. He said Paul R. McDowell, NIU junior, and Anne H. Quinney, DeKalb High School junior, won the “Younger Scholars” award.

Each winner uses the grant for nine weeks of summer independent study in the humanities, Milan said. About 25 percent of the grant money goes to the student’s adviser for work during the course of the summer, he said. “The adviser watches over the student to make sure the work goes on track,” he said.

Milan said the end product is a research paper for the mini-fellowship, which the adviser and student research.

The scholars’ applications are judged on their specialty of the proposed subject matter, Milan said. “The applicants are also judged on their intellectual rigor in the importance of the humanities elected,” he said.

According to Milan, judges also based their decisions on questions such as, “Will it enhance the intellectual mind of the student?;” “Does the adviser have an appropiate role?” and “Does the adviser have adequate knowledge in the project?”

McDowell, French language major, said he is doing research on the “Comedic Elements of Moliere.” He said, “Susan Leger, Foreign Language and Literature Associate Professor, brought the grant to me and said she could be my adviser.” He said he decided to do research on Moliere because, “Moliere is the most appealing author to me.”

McDowell said he plans on pursuing a Masters in French Literature and hopefully he will teach in a secondary school.

Anne Quinney said she will be researching the “theme and evolution of the heroine in the novels of Marguerite Duras.”

After graduating from high school, Anne Quinney said she wants to attend Brown University in Providence, RI, where she plans to major in creative writing.

Valarie Quinney, Anne Quinney’s mother, said, “As (her) daughter was researching Marguerite Duras’ novels at Founders Memorial Library, she was informed by an onlooker that an NIU professor is an international expert on Marguerite Duras. Anne Quinney sent Professor Leger a letter, and now Leger is the adviser.”