Plewniak, Mengeling earn Rotary Knox RFK Scholarships
According to Jennifer Sepaniak, RFK Scholarship Awards Committee chair, the committee received 36 applications from 13 area high school students and one homeschool student.
“We selected six applicants for interviews, which were held in person on May 10,” she added.
“All the finalists were impressive young people. After much discussion and a close vote plus a tie-breaker, we selected” (Plewniak and Mengeling), with Plewniak receiving a $20,000 Rotary Foundation of Knoxville scholarship and Mengeling receiving the $20,000 Samuel L. and Juanita Weaver Scholarship.
Each are to be paid out spanning a four-year period.
Plewniak graduated with a 4.39 grade-point average and earned a 29 on the ACT.
Described in a press release as “a very talented artist” who has won many awards and honors for her work, Plewniak operates a small art business and hosts a podcast called “Two Truths and a Lie.”
She plans to attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
“The Rotary scholarship is such a blessing to me,” Plewniak said. “Because of its consistent financial aid, I now have a lot more freedom in college to invest my time building community and exploring my interests. ...
“I am going to UT to study graphic design and entrepreneurship,” Plewniak added, noting she also received the LaFayette and Pearl Hubbs Memorial Scholarship ($2,000), as well as the Spirit Scholarship ($500).
“This summer I’m interning at the Dream Center NYC, a non-profit that provides weekly community food markets for the boroughs of NYC.”
Mengeling faced an early childhood cancer diagnosis, which he overcame. “I was diagnosed with histiocytosis when I was 3 years old,” he said. “It is an orphan disease, and because there is very little funding, not much is actually known about it. It has been classified as an auto-immune mediated cancer.
“At my diagnosis, I had six brain tumors, three lung tumors and innumerable bone tumors,” Mengeling added. “I did seven rounds of chemotherapy, totaling almost two-and-a-half years, received numerous blood transfusions, a brain biopsy and lots of different tests and scans. The specialist for my condition was at Vanderbilt, but I was able to receive treatment at (East Tennessee Children’s Hospital). I was also followed up
by Texas Children’s Cancer Center because the doctors there are the ones that are currently the leading experts in histiocytosis.
“I was taken off treatment by the doctors here after I quit responding, and my parents were told to go home and enjoy the time that they have left with me” because they determined “the treatment was doing more damage than good.”
However, “Eventually, it became apparent that I was going to be OK and I was able to begin school,” Mengeling said. “I have never really been considered in remission or no evidence of disease because I still have four tumors in my brain, but I am considered off treatment and stable.”
Graduating with a 4.33 GPA and earning a 31 on the ACT — including a perfect score of 36 in English and 35 in reading — Mengeling said he was able to graduate with 30 college credits from Pellissippi State Technical Community College.
Mengeling also was awarded the Evan Richey Memorial Scholarship, Gregory Weber Computer Science Scholarship, the Y-12 Bill T. Hicks Scholarship and the UT Volunteer Scholarship and General Assembly Merit Scholarship.
He also plans to attend UT-Knoxville and study engineering, but noted he was accepted to 17 colleges applied to during his senior year.
“I was accepted into The Tickle College of Engineering and will be majoring in computer science with a minor in cybersecurity,” Mengeling said. “I chose this field because it is not only a career that is in high demand, but it is a way that I can do some good in this world and be able to support a family one day.”
