Matthew Connelly feels his greatest accomplishment in his last years of high school was earning a spot on the Plano East Senior High’s elite Academic Decathlon Team. He was instrumental in helping the team reach the Texas Academic Decathlon State Meet, and he was the top Honors student on the Plano East team at state competition. Matthew won a bronze medal for 3^rd highest score in physics. Having taken 10 AP classes and with a 3.6 GPA Matt has been defined as an AP Scholar.

The oldest child in a family with 4 children Matt realizes the responsibility of setting an example and he has a passion for helping fellow students and teammates. He demonstrates strong leadership in several Youth programs at his church and he is on the Sam Johnson Youth Advisory Council. ?Matt also led the band as Drum Major in high school.?

Matt’s plans are to continue his education in Engineering at Texas A&M where he will also be a member of the Corp of Cadets. We have no doubt Matthew will excel in college and pursue a successful career. A $1,000 scholarship goes to Matthew from the Murphy Exchange Club.

Katie Schumacher

Katie Schumacher won an Earth Watch Fellowship to study Ecology in the Bahamas. The experience enhanced her interest in how humans impact the environment. This attitude has opened many doors for Katie and she will continue to research, serve others and seek ways to improve living conditions for all of us. She demonstrated her willingness to help others on a mission trip to Honduras and she also participated in a project for habitat for Humanity.

Katie has attended John Paul II High School, where she has served as President of Mu Alpha Theta, the math honor society. She won the title of best Female Athlete through hard work in Rowing, basketball, track and swimming. With 4 AP Exams she is considered an AP scholar, and her GPA is 3.8.

Katie will pursue her education at the CO School of The Mines, in Golden Colorado. There she will major in Engineering. She hopes to someday be a part of the “Engineers Without Borders” organization to better serve people around the world. No doubt she will, and our best wishes go to her as The Exchange Club of Murphy awards Katie $750.

Erick Gonzalez plans his time carefully around his full schedule of study, participating in ?Band where he is French horn section leader, keeping up with his Boy Scout “Eagle Project, and being on time to his job of tutoring younger students. Erick demonstrates leadership by serving as Patrol Leader and Den Chief for a Cub Scout Den. His hobby is Unicycling and he has been instrumental in organizing a group of unicyclist in the Dallas area.

Erick has attended Plano East Senior High, where he is a full-diploma candidate in the International Baccalaureate program. He is a National Hispanic Merit Scholar and an AP Scholar with Distinction.? Erick is fluent in French and has worked diligently to learn the language.

Erick has been accepted at UT Dallas and Texas Tech but he has not made his final decision at this time. He will major in Engineering and he is interested in eventually teaching as a Professor in College. We wish him the best and know he will be successful. The Exchange club of Murphy awards Erick $500.