BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Illinois Wesleyan added 25 new scholarships in 2025 thanks to the generosity of IWU’s alumni and friends, helping bright and driven high school seniors find their home and educational success at the University.
“You don’t just provide scholarships, you invest in people. You invest in students like me. You invest in our potential, our passions and our futures,” said scholarship recipient Bella Zakrzewski ‘27 at a scholarship honors dinner hosted during this year’s Homecoming and Family Weekend.
The event also served as the premier of the donor wall that is now featured in the Nell Eckley Lounge. The large glass plaques list annual and lifetime contributors to IWU’s continued success, which depends in part on scholarship opportunities given to students like Zakrzewski.
Among this year’s new scholarships are the Samuel Porritt, III ‘84 Annual Promise Scholarship for Health Sciences and the Brent A. ‘70 and Julie Anderson Annual Scholarship for First Generation Students, each supporting two exceptional students.
Darien Weaver ‘29, a kinesiology major and recipient of the health sciences scholarship, intends to go into physical therapy to “treat people with physical ailments and hopefully change lives for the better,” Weaver said.
Porritt’s interest in supporting health sciences comes from his personal experience with injury, recovery and the dedication of healthcare workers. During a trip to Italy in 2011, Sam suffered a fall that nearly left him paralyzed for life. Thanks to the University of Kansas Health System, he was able to learn to walk again. Now, through his new scholarship and the Falling Forward Foundation, established by Porritt in 2013, he is helping to give healthcare for those who need it and educational opportunities for those who provide it.
Anderson feels motivated to give by the opportunity he received himself through an IWU scholarship. Being a successful student who was the first to attend college in his family, half his tuition was covered through the generosity of those who believed in his potential. After succeeding in his career, Anderson and his wife felt both a calling and satisfaction in giving to the Spirit of 1970 Endowed Scholarship fund – so much so that they decided to expand their giving to create a scholarship dedicated to first-generation students like Anderson.
The Andersons “admire first-generation students' passion to make the most of their Wesleyan experience,” and “want to help offer IWU's quality education to today's first-generation students,” they said in a statement.
“Your generosity makes it possible for students like me to attend Illinois Wesleyan University, and your support ensures that students of the future will have the same opportunities I’ve been fortunate enough to experience and even more,” Zakrzewski said. “My hope is that their opportunities will not only mirror mine, but far exceed them.”
To learn more about financially supporting IWU students, visit iwu.edu/giving.