About Erica: Born April 17, 1990. Daughter of Carl and Margaret Toren, of Lynwood. Sister to Daniel, Craig and Caroline. Granddaughter of Chester Toren, of Munster, and Rosaland Crandell, of Lynwood. Member of Faith Church in Dyer.

Accomplishments: Erica Toren is a freshman at Hope College in Holland, Mich.

She is considering majoring in biology for a physical therapy degree, taking four classes for 16 credit hours. Toren received a Presidential Scholarship from the college along with an academic award and memorial scholarship from Illiana Christian High School. The 2008 graduate was ranked in the top 10 of her class and was a member of National Honor Society. She participated in Big Brother/Big Sister mentoring program and was part of the Homecoming committee and active in Student Council all four years. Toren was Student Council president senior year. She played basketball the first two years then switched to indoor soccer. Toren was a four-year member of the volleyball team earning two varsity athletic letters and played four years of outdoor soccer; she played varsity part of sophomore year and all junior and senior years. Toren was active in the youth group at Faith Church and before that was a small group leader and involved in a youth group called Refuge at Grace Reformed Church

in Lansing.

Personal hero: "My older brother, Daniel. We've always been really close especially when I went to high school."

What I read: "I like Karen Kingsbury books and now I have a class on how C.S. Lewis ties into Christianity."

What I do for fun: "I love to exercise, hang out with friends and visit my brother. Right now I'm training for ‘the pole.' It's a tug of war against freshmen and sophomores. They have it every year. This is the 111th year."

People might be surprised to know: "I've had two surgeries on my feet and I've broken numerous bones and had over 30 stitches."

- SUE BERO, Times Correspondent

To nominate someone for this feature, e-mail slbero@hotmail.com.