Stephanie McDonald
2004 1st Place MVS Winner
Kokomo, Indiana


     Stephanie McDonald was eating at a restaurant with friends when she found out. She began crying the moment her mom broke the news to her from the other end of the phone. A chain reaction ensued, and soon all of Stephanie’s friends were crying with her. These were tears of joy, for Stephanie had just learned that she received the Elks National Foundation’s top scholarship honor, the 1st place female winner of the 2004 Most Valuable Student scholarship contest.

     Throughout her high school years, the Kokomo, Ind., student has been showered with honors and awards. One of her favorite experiences was winning the title of Howard County Junior Miss.

     “Winning the county title was a lot of fun because it meant that I got to go to state with twenty-nine other girls,” Stephanie says. “It’s a great scholarship program that led to all of us touring around Indiana and speaking at local organizations.“

     In her last year of high school, Stephanie and four other students founded Tha’ Roots, a not-for-profit, student-run, evangelistic youth center. Stephanie states that the center provides a safe haven for over three hundred teenagers per week.

     Stephanie also captained her dance team and led them to several victories this past winter, which proved to be a difficult task as the team lost over half of its members from the previous year. Her role as Vice President on the Student Council included her heading a canned food drive campaign. She led her small school of approximately six hundred students to bring in nearly 15,000 cans.

     Since winning the Most Valuable Student scholarship, Stephanie says she has also won a few local scholarships and that she received honors as the Valedictorian of her class. She also earned the title of Hoosier Scholar, one of only three recipients from her school.

     The soft-spoken, cheerful young woman will attend Taylor University starting this fall. The university is a small school of approximately 2,000 students, and that fact appealed to Stephanie.

     “I wanted to go to Taylor because it is a smaller private school with a Christian environment,” she says. “I am very excited to start college and meet new people. I already know a couple people who will be attending Taylor as well, and I can’t wait to start this new experience.”

     What will the future hold for Stephanie McDonald? A few of her hopes include partaking in mission work, and eventually landing a career in the church.

     “I’d like to major in Christian Educational Ministries or Christian Counseling,” she says. “I hope to work in the church in the future in either Children’s Ministry or as a Christian Counselor, and maybe focus on family counseling.”

     Although Stephanie has been involved with numerous community service projects and has won many awards, she names the Most Valuable Student scholarship as her favorite accomplishment thus far.

     “It is such a great honor to have been named the top female recipient in the Most Valuable Student contest,” she says. “The scholarship will help me out tremendously as I prepare for my years at Taylor.”

Who is Kermin Elliott Fleming?

It’s final Jeopardy. Cameras pull in for a close-up; a nervous audience shifts in their seats; and the notorious melody pounds in his head: “This state and its capital were named for two dukedoms held by the same British man.” Kermin Elliott Fleming’s mind draws a blank. But, it doesn’t matter: He’s already won.

“It was mathematically impossible to catch me,” says the 21-year-old junior at Carnegie Mellon University who couldn’t come up with the answer: New York. When Alex Trebek announced that Elliot, as his friends and family call him, had won the 2004 Jeopardy College Championship, his mom burst into tears, and he knew his life had changed forever. “It was pretty exciting,” he says. “Really, there are no words.”

When it comes to thanking the people who have helped him accomplish his dreams, Elliott is never speechless. “I am eternally grateful to the Elks,” says the 2002 Elks National Foundation’s Most Valuable Student scholarship recipient. Without the scholarship, Elliott could not afford to attend Carnegie Mellon. “I got to compete on Jeopardy because I was in Pittsburgh, and I wouldn’t be here without the Elks. I can’t express my gratitude enough.”


Ken Jennings’ record-breaking winning streak may have captured the venerable game show’s spotlight in 2004, but Elliott is a Jeopardy contestant to keep an eye on. Inevitably, he’s often compared to the now-infamous millionaire and even has some fans referring to him as “Kermin Jennings.”

A self-proclaimed introvert, Elliott went from a straight-A college kid from Lexington, Ky., to a Jeopardy-superstar overnight. He’s recognized everywhere and has even dined with the president of Carnegie Mellon. His mailbox floods with letters from admirers all over the country.

With only a week between tryouts and appearing on the show, Elliott had no time to prepare for the competition. Fortunately, he’s a natural. His everyday curiosity, dedication to learning, and experience on academic quiz bowl teams, molded the perfect contestant.

“Quiz bowls are a training ground for Jeopardy—the holy grail of trivia shows,” he says. “Competing is a lot of fun. Win or lose, it’s something that I enjoy.”

But, Elliott did win. He humbly credits his victory to chance. “You can’t win if you don’t know the answers,” says Elliot. “I got lucky with the categories. If they asked me about pop-music or television, I wouldn’t have won.”

With winning came a $100,000 prize. After donating $10,000 to his church and offering to buy his parents a car (which they refused), he decided to invest his money. “He’s always concerned about not putting financial strain on his family,” says his mother.

Like his thick auburn hair and brilliant mind, Elliott was born with an extraordinary maturity. While other three-year-olds were coloring outside the lines, Elliott was calculating square roots and adding up numbers into the thousands in his head. By third grade, he could defeat his teachers at chess. Today, he teaches a time-management and study skills class to other students at Carnegie Mellon.

While tackling a demanding course load for his double major in computer and electrical engineering, Elliott also holds three jobs: a tutor, a teacher’s assistant, and a researcher and developer for Lexmark printers. Already receiving job offers from across the country, this serious scholar is poised to become a force in his dream profession.

“Right now, I’m interested in learning—it’s what I’m here to do,” he says. “After college, I want to do research and think up new things all day long.”

Elliott’s future with Jeopardy remains less clear. Although he can’t say when or where, he guarantees the perennial favorite hasn’t seen the last of him. The answer: all of Elkdom. The question: Who are Elliott’s biggest fans?