Kurtis Davis, a senior at Westview Jr.-Sr. High School, has been named the recipient of the LaGrange County Community Foundation’s 2020 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship.
Davis will receive a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to the accredited public or private college or university in Indiana of his choice, along with an annual $900 stipend for books and required equipment.
Davis is the son of Kenneth and Sherrie Davis of LaGrange. A two-sport student athlete in tennis and baseball, Davis maintains a 4.06 grade-point average. He plans to pursue a chemistry or chemical engineering degree at Bethel University or Indiana Wesleyan University.
Davis serves on National Honor Society, Student Council, Yearbook and the Junior Plus mentoring program. He has participated in a Tech Fest Competition.
This year, 16 applicants participated in LaGrange County’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship selection process. The foundation’s Lilly Scholarship Advisory Committee narrowed the field to five finalists based upon criteria that included scholastic profile, leadership, school activities, community service, work history, essays and interview performance.
The committee’s recommendations were forwarded to Independent Colleges of Indiana, the statewide administrator of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, for final review and selection of the recipient.
Other finalists included: Ana Wahll and Ryker Bond of Lakeland High School and Chelsea Weaver and Skyler Hawk of Westview Jr.-Sr. High School. Each of the finalists will receive a $1,000 four-year renewable scholarship from the Lambright Leadership Scholarship Fund established by Kevin and Carrie Lambright in 2013.
Since 1998, a total of 39 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships, including Davis’s have been awarded in LaGrange County. The total amount awarded to local LaGrange County students through this opportunity exceeds $3 million.
The scholarships are a result of a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative whose primary purposes are to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana; increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities; and encourage and support the efforts of current and past Lilly Endowment Community Scholars to engage with each other and with Indiana business, governmental, educational, and nonprofit and civic leaders to improve the quality of life in Indiana generally and in local communities throughout the state.
ICI is a nonprofit corporation that represents 30 regionally accredited degree granting, nonprofit, private colleges and universities in the state. This year, 143 scholarships were awarded statewide; the number awarded is based on the number of full-time residents. LaGrange County was offered one award in 2019. There have been more than 4,769 scholarships awarded statewide since the beginning of the program.
