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Lake Michigan Credit Union (LMCU) is pleased to announce the 20 winners of this year’s Lloyd F. Hutt Scholarship essay contest.
The annual Lloyd F. Hutt Scholarship essay contest awards $2,000 college scholarships to 20 high school seniors in Michigan or Florida. Now in its 36th year, the scholarship program honors the legacy of LMCU founder, Lloyd F. Hutt. A schoolteacher himself, Hutt committed his life’s work to education and community involvement. Over 93 years later, LMCU still upholds that passion through the Hutt Scholarship, as well as teacher grants, in-school financial workshops, and initiatives that support aspiring educators.
This year, 915 seniors submitted essays addressing the topic:
“How do you stay authentic to yourself and your values in today’s fast-paced world, where so much takes place online?”
Applicants were required to write an original 750-1,500-word essay exploring the topic. Essays were evaluated blindly by a panel of independent judges, with the greatest emphasis placed on passion for the topic, creativity, clarity, and originality.
Since 1990, the Lloyd F. Hutt Scholarship has provided over $660,000 in scholarship dollars to 372 high school seniors to use toward their higher education.
The 2025–26 Lloyd F. Hutt Scholarship recipients are:
- Lola Beer, Milford High School
- Abby Biller, Grand Haven High School
- Kenna Charbauski, Forest Hills Northern High School
- Faith Chipman, Lowell Senior High School
- Juanita Daza Reyes, Portage Northern High School
- Alyssa Ellison, Spring Lake High School
- Evelynn Frens-Travers, Holland Christian High School
- Josephine Huver, East Grand Rapids High School
- Nidhi Kulkarni, Middleton High School
- Alexi Martin, First Baptist Academy
- Leah Nienhuis, Unity Christian High School
- Connor Olszewski, West Catholic High School
- Irelynn Pachulski, Saranac Jr/Sr High
- Alexandra Rivera, Spoto High School
- Liam Roloff, Jenison High School
- Jackson Soldano, Mattawan High School
- Isabella Sterling, North Farmington High School
- Ava VanTol, Byron Center High School
- Brayley West, Lake Fenton High School
- Caleb Zylstra, Homeschool
LMCU Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, Matt Cook, extended his appreciation to this year’s winners.
“Online authenticity is such an important issue that’s only getting more pressing by the day,” Cook said. “In this age of AI and social media misinformation, it’s reassuring to hear that so many of today’s students are still committed to ‘keeping it real.’ That’s why I want to thank our 20 winners, as well as everyone who submitted an essay: with soon-to-be leaders like you, our future’s in good hands.”