NILES Clayman scholarship winners announced

Two Niles seniors are off to Washington, D.C., and Columbus in the fall with cash in hand.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Thanks to a local businessman, a Niles McKinley High School senior will be going to the college of her choice.
Another won't have to work a part-time job while she's studying.
On Tuesday, Felicia Trautman, 17, received a $40,000 scholarship from the Clayman Family Foundation. Kasey Martini, 17, received a $20,000 award.
This is the 11th year that William Clayman, owner of Niles Scrap Iron and Metal Co., has provided the two scholarships.
Clayman, a graduate of Niles schools before going into business, believes in academic achievement. The young women were selected on the basis of academic honors, written statement, grade point average, college entrance test scores, references and a personal interview.
Trautman, daughter of Deborah Trautman of John Street and the late Donald Trautman; and Martini, daughter of Marilou Samuelson of South Street and Randy Martini of Aurora; were selected from 15 of the top 5 percent of their senior class.
"Those who lost weren't far off. You have to keep pluggin'," Clayman told the group.
College and beyond: Trautman will now be able to attend American University in Washington, D.C., where she plans to study a program of communications, legal institutions, economics and government. After graduation, she wants to become a CNN news anchor and news analyst.
Trautman said that if not for the scholarship, she wouldn't be able to attend American because of the high tuition cost and travel expenses.
"This definitely set it in stone," she added.
Martini will be at The Ohio State University in the fall majoring in math. She then plans to get her law degree.
One of four children, Martini said she would have had to work a side job while at OSU without the scholarship.
Martini said her parents will be happy about the scholarship. "It's one more thing they won't have to worry about," she noted.
Martini had told her parents not to expect her to win.
"I was honestly very surprised," she said.
Trautman, meanwhile, said she thought she had a chance for second place, but didn't believe she would take the top honor.