Braidyn Phinney of Ottawa, Illinois, has been admitted to the University of Illinois Springfield for the fall semester of 2025 and awarded a $12,000 Star Scholar Award for tuition over four years. At UIS, he will major in computer science.
The scholarship is awarded based on high school GPA and can be renewed if the student maintains college GPA requirements.
In high school, he was involved in the chess club and Dungeons and Dragons club.