08/08/2026
2026 McLean County HCE Scholarship Recipients
McLean County HCE is pleased to announce three recipients for the 2026 Scholarships. To be eligible, these 4-H members must have exhibited a 4-H project in one or more of the Home & Family or Foods, Nutrition & Health areas at the 2025 4-H fair and 3 other years in their 4-H career.
Corinna Thomas is the daughter of Tina Thomas of Bloomington and the late John Thomas. She is a 10-year member of the Ardent Tillers 4-H Club. Her roles as Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President of her club have helped her to gain confidence in managing responsibilities and work collaboratively with others. Among her many service activities, she has been a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, cleaned up parks, served at a food pantry, helped at a nursing home, and volunteered at events to promote literacy and education for children. Corinna is currently enrolled at the University of Illinois Springfield majoring in Elementary Education, minoring in music with endorsements in Special Education, ESL, and music education. Her long-term goal is to create an inclusive, supportive, and engaging learning environment where students feel valued and encouraged to reach their full potential.
Ella Sommer is the daughter of Mike and Rebecca Sommer. She is a 9-year member of the Bloomington Busy Bees 4-H Club. She is very involved in 4-H having been president of her club, where she has lead meetings, coordinated the calendar, guest speakers, club activities, and service projects. This has led to other areas of 4-H including McLean County Youth Representative on the Unit 12 University of Illinois Extension Council. In addition to 4-H, Ella has been active in the community. She has served at the Midwest Food Bank, Salvation Army, local nursing homes, her church, and at her school. Ella plans to study next year at the University of Illinois with the desire to become a school speech pathologist.
Ojas Shah is the son of Devang and Rupa Shah and is currently attending The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He was an 8-year member of the Silverleaf Let’s Go Ag 4-H Club. He has served on the 4-H Youth Leadership Team and was President of the Illinois 4-H Healthy Living Ambassadors. He helped organize Junior Leadership Conferences and was selected as 1of 10 delegates to the National 4-H Congress. This year he was also selected as a 4-H Healthy Teen Living Ambassador. Ojas presented a workshop at National 4-H Ignites Sumit in Washington DC. Outside 4-H, Ojas has been a board member on the school’s computer science club and part of Future Business Leaders of America and was the Central Illinois Region Vice President. He is currently on the leadership committee of a student entrepreneurship club. Beyond college, Ojas would like to work on bringing together his two educational interests to create autonomous terrestrial and aerial robots to assist farming practices .
