Christian Morena Ayuso of Chicago Named Monmouth College Trustees' Scholar

A pair of college socks showed him a lot of love.

by Duane Bonifer

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/04/2021) — Christian Moreno Ayuso discovered Monmouth College thanks to advice from a high school counselor. Ayuso, who is a senior at John F. Kennedy High School, said he soon realized there was something special about the national liberal arts college.

"At first, it just seemed like a normal school, but then when I went through the interview process I realized how amazing this college was because of the strong sense of community there," said Moreno Ayuso, who is the son of Leonardo Moreno Sosa and Cristian Ayuso Diaz of Chicago.

Then in December, Moreno Ayuso received a pair of Monmouth branded socks.

"When they sent me socks, which was something no other school did, I realized this school was different," he said. "You feel like there is so much love going around this community, more than any other school I researched."

Moreno Ayuso will have plenty of opportunities to wear those socks on campus over the next four years, as he has been named one of the College's four Trustees' Scholars in the Monmouth Class of 2025. Trustees Scholars receive a full four-year tuition scholarship, worth more than $160,000, to the national liberal arts college. Ayuso was selected from among 165 high school seniors from 15 states who interviewed for the College's top scholarships this year.

Moreno Ayuso, who has earned straight A's since the eighth grade, has been a member of his school's champion math team. He has also been involved in community service - working with the homeless, helping peers with homework and serving as a translator for Spanish-speaking members of his community.

Moreno Ayuso, who plans to major in either mathematics or engineering, said he is looking forward to being involved with Monmouth's campus life and building strong relationships with faculty.

"With the power of a liberal arts education on my side I can free people from the traits that make them less humane by helping them gain a new understanding of the world," he said. "Humans with morals are humans with the power to change a life, and that is what the liberal arts offer to us."

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