The Chancellor’s Scholars event took place Friday and Saturday as part of Saluki Pride Weekend.

The event was filled with all day campus-wide activities, including breakfast with Chancellor Rita Cheng, men’s and women’s basketball games and interviews between potential scholarship candidates and faculty members.

Mykel Gary of Carbondale was in attendance as a prospective student. He said while he has not decided on a college, Saluki Pride Weekend was a fun experience.

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“Although I haven’t officially committed to SIU yet, I will say that this weekend is an overall good experience, and I was pretty relaxed during the interview,” he said.

The university welcomed 550 students and their parents for the event. The students were vying for a pair of scholarships given out annually by the university.

The first award is the Chancellor’s Scholarship, which covers tuition, room and board, and mandatory fees for four years. The second is the University Excellence Award, which covers full in- state tuition for a total of four years.

To receive these scholarships, students must be admitted by Dec. 1 with the scholarship application submitted by Dec. 15. The scholarships are valued at more than $85,000 and $33,000, respectively.

For their applications to be considered, applicants must have an ACT score between the high 20s and 30s, and a GPA of roughly 3.8.

A student must also list the extracurricular activities he or she is involved in.

The prospective students are then invited to Saluki Pride Weekend where they take part in the activities and have their interview. The selection committee decides who receives the scholarships in March.

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Matt Schmidlin, coordinator of Saluki Pride Weekend, said the questions during the interview cover a wide range of topics and are not uniform in nature.

“The questions are case by case,” he said. “We want to know who you are, how you think you’ll represent SIU, and we may even ask questions like what’s your favorite candy.”

Schmidlin said even though most of the students do not receive one of the scholarships, the weekend itself is a successful recruiting tool.

“Last year, almost 400 people came here, and about 70 percent ended up committing to SIU,” Schmidlin said.

Meredith Stamberger, a freshman from La Moille studying production horticulture, was awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship in 2013. She said even if she had not won the scholarship, Saluki Pride Weekend would have been enough to convince her to come to the university.

“I committed to SIU not only because I won the scholarship, but also because of the passion and

enthusiasm faculty members and current students showed,” she said. “I felt really welcomed, and the icing on the cake was the agriculture program and location of SIU overall.”

Elizabeth Gillespie, a sophomore from Herrin studying accounting, attended Saluki Pride Weekend in 2012 and was awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship. She said Saluki Pride Weekend helped finalize her decision to come to the university as well.

“The events that weekend showed a really good display of SIU,” she said. “When I visited, I loved it way more than I thought I would. The students and faculty here were really excited to show off SIU and opportunities that can be here.”

Kaleb Cutsinger of Marion was one of the candidates for the scholarship this weekend. He echoed the sentiments of Gillespie and Stamberger and said the events during the weekend solidified SIU as his school of choice.

“Participating in the activities this weekend really sealed the deal for me,” he said. “I plan to not only play football, but also get involved with as many student organizations centered around music as possible, since I didn’t get a chance to do that while I was in high school.”

Kia Smith can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @KiaSmith or 536-3311 ext. 268.