LaGrange County’s 2022 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship application opens on July 31. The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program (LECSP) will provide 143 scholarships statewide and one (1) scholarship in LaGrange County.
LECSP scholarships may be used for otherwise unreimbursed full tuition, required fees, and a special allocation of up to $900 per year. The special allocation may cover the costs for required books and required equipment for four years of undergraduate study on a full-time basis leading to a baccalaureate degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university.
The program, administered statewide by Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) and locally in LaGrange County through the LaGrange County Community Foundation, is open to all Indiana residents who:
- graduate from an accredited Indiana high school by 2022 and receive their diploma no later than June 30, 2022;
- intend to pursue a full-time baccalaureate course of study at an eligible college or university in Indiana; and
- meet the criteria specific to their local community foundation. Students applying in LaGrange County must have a minimum grade point average of 3.0; be a LaGrange County resident; and be graduate from a LaGrange County high school.
Students can learn more about the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in LaGrange County and apply for this scholarship by visiting www.lccf.net/lillyscholarship. Applications must be completed and submitted by Sept. 15, 2021, at 5 p.m. to be considered.
Applications will be evaluated on, but not limited to, the following criteria:
- academic achievement
- demonstrated service to others
- leadership ability
- commitment and motivation to succeed
- employment history
- extracurricular involvement and essay responses
Two recommendations must also be submitted with the application. A personal interview will assist in determining the scholarship recipient.
Five students will be selected as finalists and be interviewed in October 2021. Following the interviews, the LaGrange County Community Foundation will nominate one local graduating senior for the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship; their name will be submitted to ICI for final approval. The scholarship recipient will be announced in December.
The finalists not selected for the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship will receive a $1,000 four-year renewable scholarship from the Lambright Leadership Fund established by Kevin and Carrie Lambright.
Lilly Endowment created LECSP for the 1997 – 1998 school year and has supported the program every year since with tuition grants totaling more than $424 million. Nearly 5,000 Indiana students have received Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships since the program’s inception.
The primary purposes of LECSP are
- to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana;
- to increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities; and
- 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.
LaGrange County Community Foundation is again pleased to offer LECSP for its 25th year in LaGrange County.
We are grateful to be able to offer the LECSP Scholarship to our local students. It opens opportunities for the recipient to attend a school that otherwise might not have been possible. LaGrange County is home to exceptional student scholars who are committed, caring community members. We look forward to recognizing the hearts and minds of our community’s talented young people.
Octavia Yoder, executive director
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic 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. The Endowment funds significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, 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 Inc. Founded in 1948, ICI serves as the collective voice for the state’s 30 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.
