Four high school seniors from the Northwest suburbs received the first scholarships given out by theAndrewStrong Foundationduring an emotional ceremony in Palatine.

The June 10 event took place by a bench located on a hill at Margreth Riemer Reservoir and dedicated to Andrew Marton, a local, well-liked 16-year-old who died in a dirt bike accident in April 2020. Andrew enjoyed biking with his friends to that hill to watch the sunset, his mother, Marisa Marton, said.

“Andrew was certainly there,” she said of the ceremony. “I began to present the awards and a train came by, and we had to wait as it was kind of loud. Andrew’s nickname is ‘Chooch’ for Choo Choo cause he really liked trains as a young kid. So we think he was letting us know, ‘I’m here.’”

The scholarship winners were Mackenzie Branch of Palatine High School, who will attend Illinois State University; Stephanie Tadda of Wheeling High School, who will attend Illinois State University; Annie Lindgren of Hersey High School, who will attend Oklahoma State University; and Jacob Signorini of Jacobs High School, who will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Three of the scholarships are worth $2,000, and the fourth is for $1,500.

Marisa Marton said she worked with her husband, Adam, and their younger son, Zach, to select the winners from among 97 applicants. “It was very difficult,” she said, so much so that the winners were increased to four from the three initially planned.

At the ceremony, Andrew’s family talked about the qualities they saw in the high school seniors that resembled Andrew’s. That was touching, said Mackenzie, who was told she has a knack for leadership, like Andrew did.

“I didn’t know him personally, but my cousin was his age and I know some of his family friends,” Mackenzie said. “My mom follows theAndrewStrong Foundation on Facebook, and they posted about the scholarship. I think it’s really cool that they could find a positive way to remember him and keep his memory alive.”

Jacob Signorini’s mother, Barbara, said her son couldn’t attend the ceremony due to a planned visit with family in Idaho, but he intends to meet Andrew’s family because he feels a personal connection.

“There seems to be a lot of commonality,” Barbara Signorini said. “He was a young high school student, he was in many sports. He seemed to be friendly and outgoing, and he liked to do fun things — and that’s kind of how Jacob is.”

The Andrew Strong Foundation has held two events, a golf outing in 2020 and a bags tournament Saturday, that got a lot of support from the community at large, Marisa Marton said.

There will be another golf outing on Aug. 20 and a 5K Run/Walk on Sept. 26. For more information, visitandrewstrong.org.

“We are getting on day by day, but this year is twice as hard as last year,” Andrew’s mother said. “It’s been 400-plus days without him and it hurts in a whole new way on top of our already heavy hearts.”

The Marton family handled the ceremony bravely and graciously, Barbara Signorini said.

“As a parent, you don’t want to see another parent hurting,” she said. “If I could change anything, I would rather not but in a situation to accept it (the scholarship). I’d rather they have their kid back.”