ANAHEIM: Laura Yu, a senior at Cornelia Connelly School, is an Orange County winner of a $10,000 Ten4U scholarship and a MacBook from Nordstrom. She learned the news Wednesday morning on campus, before classes began.  

Laura submitted an essay to the Nordstrom Scholarship Program last spring, during her junior year. Her essay addressing the prompt "To think critically is to question," discussed misconceptions, Laura said.  A panel of Nordstrom managers and community business leaders chose Laura and 11 other current seniors over 1,300 other applicants in Orange County. It was a record-breaking number of submissions, said Ellen Greene, Nordstrom Scholarship Program Manager.  

Rodney Friend, Nordstrom's Diversity Affairs Director for the Orange County and Los Angeles region, said that 13,000 students submitted essays to apply for the 80 scholarships granted nationally by the Nordstrom Scholarship Program. Applicants must apply as juniors and must attend school in one of the 31 states where Nordstrom currently has a full-line store. The students must have at least a 2.7 GPA, volunteer in their community, participate in extracurricular activities and plan to apply for financial assistance when attending an accredited four-year college or university. The scholarship is paid out in equal installments of $2,500. 

"Laura is a young woman who shares her many talents and interests with the Connelly community. She brings honor to herself and her school by winning the Nordstrom Scholarship," said Sister Francine Gunther, Head of School at Cornelia Connelly School.

Laura is the captain of Connelly's cross country team, swims on the school team and competed in the Orange County Science Fair and California State Science Fair each of the past two years.

CAPTION: Rodney Friend (right), of Nordstrom, surprised Cornelia Connelly School senior Laura Yu (center) with a $10,000 scholarship and a MacBook on Wednesday, October 3. Yu and 11 other Orange County teens topped the list of 1,300 applicants in the Orange County competition for the Nordstrom Scholarship Program. She submitted an essay and was interviewed by Nordstrom managers and community business leaders. Martha Serrano, Connelly's assistant head of school, is at the left.