Community Foundation Announces
2024 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar
The Community Foundation of Whitley County is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Whitley County – Logan Good, a senior at Columbia City High School.
Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership. In her recommendation letter for Logan, History Teacher and Academic Team Coach Kristin Rentschler wrote “She stands out as a remarkable leader in numerous aspects of her life. In the classroom, she consistently exhibits an unparalleled dedication to academic excellence. Her commitment to learning through hard work leads to insightful contributions to class discussions that have had a positive impact on her peers, fostering an atmosphere of collaborative learning.”
Each Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship provides for full tuition, required fees and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for required books and required equipment for four years. The scholarship is for full-time undergraduate students leading to a baccalaureate degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars may also participate in the Lilly Scholars Network (LSN), which connects both current scholars and alumni with resources and opportunities to be active leaders on their campuses and in their communities. Both the scholarship program and LSN are supported by grants from Lilly Endowment to Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) and Indiana Humanities. Good has dreamed of becoming a veterinarian since second grade and she loves taking care of animals.
While in high school she interned at a local vet office and she is currently taking courses in “Vet Careers” to obtain a certification to care for animals by the time she graduates. She intends to further her education by pursuing a degree in Pre-Veterinary Medicine. In determining Whitley County’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholar nominee, consideration was given to criteria that included scholarship, financial need, work history, community service, school activities, and interview performance. After the field of applicants was narrowed down, nominees were submitted to ICI, the statewide administrator of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, which approves the final selection of scholarship recipients.
“This year we had 38 qualified applicants participate in Whitley County’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship selection process,” said September McConnell, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation. “The committee had a hard time in narrowing the applications to three finalists who participated in the interview process.”
Other finalists, in alphabetical order: Alina Houser, Columbia City High School Kendall Stuckey, Churubusco High School
The runners up will each receive a scholarship made possible by the Community Foundation of Whitley County. Lilly Endowment created the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program for the 1998-99 school year and has supported the program every year since with grants totaling in excess of $505 million. More than 5,200 Indiana students have received the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship since the program’s inception.
The primary purposes of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program are: 1) to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana; 2) to increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities; and 3) to encourage and support the efforts of current and past Lilly Endowment Community Scholars to engage with each other and with Indiana business, governmental, educational, nonprofit and civic leaders to improve the quality of life in Indiana generally and in local communities throughout the state. Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
Since 1997, Independent Colleges of Indiana has administered the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program statewide with funding provided by Lilly Endowment. Founded in 1948, ICI serves as the collective voice for the state’s 29 private, nonprofit colleges and universities. ICI institutions employ over 22,000 Hoosiers and generate a total local economic impact of over $5 billion annually. Students at ICI colleges have Indiana’s highest four-year, on- time graduation rates, and ICI institutions produce 30 percent of Indiana’s bachelor’s degrees while enrolling 20 percent of its undergraduates.
#####