Student of the Month: Umar Siddiqui

Umar Mohammad Siddiqui has always been a believer in reaching out and grasping opportunity, and knows that opportunity can only be fulfilled with hard work. And he has devoted his high school years to achieving as much as he can.

Umar is a senior at Sycamore High School, getting a 4.0 GPA throughout high school; he is in the top 10 of his class, and is president of the National Honors Society chapter. In addition, he founded "Smash for Safe Passage," and annual video game tournament created to raise funds for the emergency shelter.

He has also shown his talents in performing, as a member of the Penguin Project cast of "Shrek: The Musical" this year and as a reporter and anchor on Spartan TV. He has also been on the track and cross-country teams, won 1st place in the NIB Lit Fest short story contest, and has won the NIB math contest for five years straight.

He hopes to attend Illinois-Chicago, Northwestern or the University of Illinois to study engineering.