Through its 2025 Community Scholarship Program and the Lambright Leadership Scholarship, the LaGrange County Community Foundation has awarded $270,000 in scholarships to support local students in their pursuit of higher education.
Scholarship presentations took place in May during award ceremonies at Lakeland, Prairie Heights, and Westview high schools.
This year marked the debut of three new scholarships: the Eldon Hostetler Family Scholarship, the GO Shine Like Gwen Memorial Scholarship, and the Huggins Family Scholarship—each established to honor legacies and inspire future generations.
The Community Foundation manages more than 50 individual scholarship funds created by individuals, families and businesses to benefit a specific school or field of study. The scholarship funds support a variety of career paths such as education, agriculture, health, science, nursing, and more. Awards range from $500 to $40,000 per award; several scholarships are provided for four years.
“Each year we look forward to awarding our Community Scholarships to high school seniors. These scholarships recognize the accomplishments the students have achieved in the last four years,” said Executive Director Octavia Yoder.
“We are grateful to the individuals, families and businesses who created these scholarship funds and have worked alongside the Community Foundation. We aspire to welcome new donors and fund more students as the program continues to grow. We are extremely appreciative of the community volunteers who take time to help read and evaluate scholarships. The process is quite an undertaking and is truly a community partnership of donors, volunteers, schools, and Community Foundation staff. It’s rewarding to help support the educational goals of students in our community,” Yoder added.
Recipients of the 2025 Community Scholarships, listed by schools, are as follows:
Lakeland Jr/Sr High School scholarship recipients:
- Arianna Bustos — Ignite Your Future Scholarship*
- Justin Carlson —Terry Schmidt Memorial Basketball Scholarship
- Dakota Feller — Mory Family Scholarship
- Adrianna Gyovai — Brian Evans Memorial Scholarship and Bulldog Spirit Scholarship
- Nicholas Huppenthal — Chase Scott Memorial Football Scholarship
- Ethan Marchand — Ray & Ruth Culp Memorial Scholarship
- Wesley Mishler — LaGrange County Farm Bureau Co-op
- Makenna Mynhier — Lakeland Scholarship
- Briana Poe — HOPE Nursing Scholarship
- Caraline Schackow — Bruce Brown Memorial Scholarship, HOPE Nursing Scholarship, Huggins Family Scholarship, Judy Gage-Keenan Scholarship and Olivia Bay Lemings Memorial Scholarship
- Charles Schackow — Rex Fisher History Scholarship*
- Caytlin Sherman — Ellsworth Fanning Memorial Scholarship*
- Arlene Thompson — George O. Witwer Memorial Scholarship, Lambright Leadership Scholarship, Melvin & Marjorie Bricker Memorial Scholarship, Waddell Scholarship*
- Kylee Waldron — Mattea Holton Memorial Scholarship
- Laney Wilson — Allread-Rife Family Scholarship, Jean Seagley-Crouse Memorial Scholarship and Paul & Marian Krebs Scholarship*
Prairie Heights High School scholarship recipients:
- Sienna Clark — Russell Hepler Media Scholarship
- Emma Crager — Kevin Lewis Purdue Ag Memorial Scholarship
- Kailey Kauffman — Prairie Heights Scholarship
- Alexyss Keener — Amanda Lou Crotts Memorial Scholarship, Craig D. & Rhonda S. Neff Memorial Scholarship, Perkins Scholarship, Prairie Heights Scholarship
- Brianna Messer — Beverly Todd Memorial Scholarship, Prairie Heights Scholarship
- Erianna Vela — Ned Stump Memorial Scholarship
Westview Jr-Sr High School scholarship recipients:
- Ian Bontrager — Holly Petersen Memorial Science Scholarship and Keith and Arline Davis Memorial Scholarship
- Mason Clark — Eldon Hostetler Family Scholarship*
- Gavin Engle — Farmwald Scholarship*, Lambright Leadership Scholarship, Rheinheimer Scholarship*
- Max Engle — Partners in Education Scholarship
- Grace Heyerly —Lambright Leadership Scholarship
- Tetiana Jones — GO Shine Like Gwen Memorial Scholarship
- Kiana Mast — Allread-Rife Family Scholarship and Morgan Hunter Memorial Scholarship
- Adelyn Rainsberger — Schlemmer Scholarship
- Morgan Rich — Lyle Smith Scholarship
- Morgan Riegsecker — James F. Kalb Memorial Scholarship, Kerry Wilt-Spradlin Memorial Scholarship, LIFE Scholarship, Lambright Leadership Scholarship
- Ava Williams — Rheinheimer Scholarship* and Virgil & Florence Hardin Memorial
- Kamden Yoder — Ignite Your Future Scholarship*, J.O. Mory Company Scholarship and Joseph Willard Memorial Scholarship
*denotes renewable scholarship
About the LaGrange County Community Foundation
The LaGrange County Community Foundation strives to enrich the lives of LaGrange County residents by fostering partnerships, supporting nonprofits, empowering local initiatives, and investing in students. Guided by a mission to inspire and sustain generosity, leadership, and service, the Foundation collaborates with individuals, families, and businesses to create lasting resources through permanent funds.
