Monmouth College announces its first set of five FLASH Scholars

Students are from Monmouth, Aledo, Morrison, Collinsville, as well as El Paso, Texas

Monmouth, Ill. (10/31/2025) — In April, Monmouth College made news by being the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant worth nearly $1 million, which was part of the NSF's competitive Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program.

The funds launched an ambitious new FLASH program at Monmouth aimed at increasing the success of Pell Grant eligible students pursuing STEM degrees. Over six years, the program will provide scholarships, as well as robust academic and career support, to approximately 15 academically talented students with exceptional financial need, as determined by the U.S. Department of Education.

"FLASH" forward to this fall's semester, and the college has announced the first group of students that are part of the new Focus on Learning for All with STEM as a Home initiative, also known as FLASH.

Those students are engineering majors Ellis Kircher of Collinsville, Illinois, and Gavin Streets Wood of Morrison, Illinois; biochemistry major Hailey Garcia of El Paso, Texas; computer science major Dylan Marr of Aledo, Illinois; and biology major Camila Taguado-Martinez of Monmouth.

FLASH is especially focused on increasing STEM participation among rural students with exceptional financial need, a population historically underrepresented in these fields. It builds on Monmouth's continued emphasis on STEM and is the latest in a series of strategic investments by the college to expand access to high-impact STEM education and to prepare students for in-demand careers in the region and beyond.

"This award is a transformative investment in our students and in the region," said Monmouth chemistry professor Laura Moore, who served as the proposal's principal investigator. "The FLASH program will open doors for students who have the talent but may not have the means to pursue a STEM education and it will also provide the support systems necessary to help them thrive."

Getting to know them

Moore has come to know the students well through the section of the "Identity and Inquiry" freshman seminar she teaches, in which all five scholarship recipients are enrolled.

"I'm learning all the different perspectives these students bring to the class," she said. "It's easy to imagine them as thoughtful problem solvers of the future."

Some of those perspectives simply relate to acquiring the confidence necessary to take on new levels of academic rigor in a challenging subject. Students went through a rigorous selection process, where they were asked to discuss personal challenges and how they overcame them.

"I found that others are willing to help if you prove that you're willing to learn," said Marr. "I grasp onto what I can the first time and just keep pushing myself until I have it. I have yet to give up on myself when it comes to things thrown at me."

Commented Streets Wood: "My mother loves to say that my brain moves faster than I do, and she is right. ... I break a paper into bulleted points before I form the paper into sentences. ... Before I began using the bullet point approach, I had many great ideas, but they got lost between my mind and the paper."

Kircher discovered some scientific principles in a course not typically linked to STEM.

"Through my building trades class, I learned that physics isn't about quick simple answers. The experience ... pushed me to overcome challenges to connect theory with reality. (I learned) about critical thinking and seeing the bigger picture for the answer."

The other two scholars are both students of biology professor Janet Ugolino.

"Camila is a natural leader and takes the time to make sure everyone is included," she said. "I can see that she is on her way to becoming a successful scientist with the attention to detail she puts into her work and with the questions she asks."

Of Garcia, Ugolino said, "Hailey is an extremely bright and conscientious student and demonstrated a lot of skills necessary to be successful in the sciences during SOFIA. She has a positive attitude, and she worked well with the others on their SOFIA project," which took place in the three weeks before fall semester classes began.

Monmouth physics professor Chris Fasano, a longtime advocate of creating pathways for students to pursue an interest in STEM, said, "We are delighted to support these students in their quest to become STEM professionals. We are so happy that they've joined us."

He added, "Monmouth College's strong ties with regional high schools, community colleges and growing partnerships with STEM employers in many disciplines and national laboratories make us uniquely positioned to build a local pipeline of talented STEM professionals and support economically disadvantaged students."