Houston Illini Club

Scholarship info and application

NEWS! 2025 Scholarship Winner

The Houston Illini Club is proud to award its annual scholarship to Annabel Li, a graduate of the Math and Science Academy at Dulles High School in Sugar Land, Texas. Beginning this fall, Annabel will be attending the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and majoring in electrical engineering.

A National Merit Finalist and AP Scholar with Distinction, Annabel has a long list of academic and extracurricular achievements, including top placements in UIL, TMSCA, and FIRST Robotics competitions. Additionally, her leadership roles in the Math National Honor Society and Varsity Orchestra have allowed her to organize events such as Math Bash for elementary and middle schoolers and a district-wide high school orchestra social.

Her interest in electrical engineering sparked during physics class and quickly evolved into self-taught circuitry projects using Arduinos and breadboards. Inspired by sci-fi books like Project Hail Mary, Annabel became fascinated by the real-world technologies behind the fiction. Outside of the classroom, she is also a dedicated volunteer at the Houston Food Bank and shares her musical talents at senior and healthcare facilities. Annabel Li embodies a spirit of creativity and curiosity we’re proud to support through the Houston Illini Scholarship. Congratulations to our 2025 Houston Illini Scholarship Recipient: Annabel Li!

HOUSTON ILLINI CLUB'S SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

Each spring the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's (UIUC's) Admissions Department furnishes the club’s scholarship committee a list of accepted Houston-area rising Freshmen to UIUC. From that supplied list we send an invitation and form to apply for our club's scholarship. For 2025 the Houston Illini Club awarded an academics and leadership based scholarship of $5,000, the largest amount in our club’s history!

For 2026 the Club plans to award $5,0000 to a highly deserving rising Houston-area freshman attending UIUC, and $1,000 to the second place winner, for a total of $6,000 - yet another record!

If you have questions, contact our 2026 scholarship chair, Dr. Jennifer Luth, via scholarships@houstonilliniclub.com

All Houston metro-area high school seniors who have been admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are invited to apply for the Houston Illini Club's scholarship! View the Houston Illini Club's distinguished gallery of past scholarship recipients here!

Please note that to qualify the student must:

Have been accepted for admission to the freshman class at UIUC in the following fall;
Have a permanent home address within the greater Houston metropolitan area, as defined by UIUC's Admissions Department;
Be enrolled for full-time undergraduate study at UIUC at the time the award is paid, i.e. during the scholarship winner's freshman year;
Neither be a direct dependent of a scholarship committee member, nor Houston Illini Club Officer.

We encourage applications! Interested students should:

By 5pm CST on May 23, 2025 please complete the following application form in its entirety via clicking on this 2025 application link (Google Form.)
Email a scanned copy of your high school transcript, and your SAT and/or ACT scores (if taken) to scholarships@houstonilliniclub.com.
Ensure that your High School Faculty Reference has e-mailed a letter of recommendation (200 words maximum) on your behalf to scholarships@houstonilliniclub.com.

With any questions contact scholarships@houstonilliniclub.com

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Our scholarship is funded by generous donations from our members, so please consider making a donation to our fund. As our club is dues-free your support is extrememely appreciated!