Middie wins $3,000 scholarship to continue studies at UC

Chuntel Murawski has read emails from the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College warning students about dangerous Internet scams.

So when she opened a recent email and saw where she had won a scholarship valued at $3,005, the cost of full-time tuition, she thought it was a hoax. Murawski figured somewhere in the email it would say she had to wire a money order, probably out of the country, to be eligible for the scholarship.

Then, a few days later, she checked and her tuition for the spring semester was paid in full. The semester began Monday.

“I’m really excited,” Murawski said. “When I received the email notifying me that I won I had to read it about six times. I couldn’t believe this was real. I still can’t believe it; it’s kind of like winning the lottery.”

Ironically, Murawski, 24, a 2010 Middletown High School graduate, didn’t know she was entered in a scholarship drawing. Her good fortune came through a program at UC Blue Ash that encourages returning students to register early for the upcoming semester so they can get the classes and schedule they prefer. Those who registered for spring by the Dec. 9, 2016, deadline were automatically entered into a drawing. Murawski’s name was selected out of 3,146 students who were eligible.

Now, Murawski said, she may graduate earlier than expected because she can afford to take summer classes. The 4.0-grade point average student hopes to earn her associate’s degree by the spring of 2018, then attend the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy.

After graduating from MHS, unsure about her career choice, Murawski took chemistry classes at Miami University Middletown, and for the last three years has worked as a pharmacy technician at Meijer in West Chester and Humana in Springdale.

She chose UC Blue Ash because of its proximity to her work and it offered the pre-pharmacy program that will prepare her for her future goals.

Being a pharmacist is attractive because it’s a “nice environment,” and she enjoying helping others, she said.

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