U.S. Bank recognizes outstanding students

Northwestern Financial Review, Jun 1-Jun 14, 2005

Two Minnesota high school seniors walked away from an awards banquet last month with substantial scholarships presented by U.S. Bank, Minneapolis. Aparna Noel Suri of St. Paul Harding High School, was recognized for outstanding leadership while Michael Diedrich of Rochester Central High School, was honored for outstanding academic accomplishments.

In addition to being a top student, Suri coordinated tsunami relief fund efforts for her school and produced a 'women and science' exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. She also reached out to researchers at the University of Minnesota, offering to forgo her summer vacations to assist with experiments to test new ways to clean water.

Receiving a perfect score on his SAT test was a culmination of a series of academic accomplishments for Diedrich. He is first in his class of 419 students, he was selected to present at the Minnesota Science Fair four times and twice has received awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. While in 10th grade, Diedrich's science fair project resulted in his first U.S. patent.

All told, more than 150 Minnesota high school students and teachers from 130 schools also received awards as part of U.S. Bank's Back 2 Schools program.