Andrada, of Elgin, is among 20 community college students nationwide named to the First Team and is the only First Team recipient in Illinois. She is the third ECC student named to the First Team in the award’s 19-year history. Andrada also received a $2,500 scholarship from USA Today.
In addition, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation named Andrada as a New Century Scholar, a first for an ECC student. This award is given to the person in each state who scores the highest in the application process. A $2,000 scholarship accompanies the honor.
The awards are part of an annual recognition program administered by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. The program honors outstanding two-year college students who show intellectual rigor in their course of study, demonstrate academic, leadership and civic growth, and who extend their community college education to better themselves, their schools and their communities.
“I am really humbled that the judges thought I was worthy of these designations,” Andrada says. She graduates from ECC in May and continues her studies this fall at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her ultimate goal is to become a lawyer.
Andrada, a graduate of Burlington Central High School, says ECC inspires her to do more. She is active in clubs such as the Asian Filipino Club and Student Government. She is proud of her work as the sole student representative on the ECC Board of Trustees, where she helped initiate a program where students could rent textbooks at the ECC Bookstore instead of purchasing them.
Other achievements include winning a Girl Scouts Gold Award (similar to the Boy Scouts Eagle Scout badge) for organizing a “Save the Planet Day” that showed children in her neighborhood how to care for the environment. Only six percent of Girl Scouts receive the honor.
In 2008, Andrada helped collect 1,300 small toys at ECC to help children in need in the Philippines and traveled to that country to deliver them personally that summer. She was inspired to do the drive after visiting there 10 years ago and seeing children asking for toys.
Andrada says her commitment to community service is “the result of who I am. I care about people and want to do more.” ECC has given her the best experiences of her life and she is proud of the opportunities to serve.
“Every time you take up a leadership experience, you learn what you’re capable of,” she said. “You learn more about yourself.”