Daily Reporter staff reports
HANCOCK COUNTY — Incoming high school seniors, take note: one prominent scholarship application is now due in the fall.
Lilly Endowment Inc., a private philanthropic organization founded in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and Co., recently announced a significant timeline change to the 2017 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship application process.
2017 Scholars will be named this December, according to a news release from the Hancock County Community Foundation. Previously, scholarship recipients were notified in the spring of the year they graduated from high school. The change affects the program for many organizations across the state, including the Hancock County Community Foundation.
“The 2017 Scholarship Recipients will receive our community’s 42nd and 43rd Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships,” wrote Hancock County Community Foundation president Mary Gibble in a news release. “We are grateful that Lilly Endowment offers us the opportunity to administer such an impactful scholarship on their behalf.”
The decision comes after a survey conducted by the Lilly Endowment, Gibble said, which indicated letting students know sooner that they have been chosen as Lilly Scholars will better allow them to choose which college they’d like to attend.
Many students apply to colleges in the fall, but in the past, Lilly Scholars haven’t been notified until the spring, Gibble said. This change will allow them the freedom of applying to schools they might not have otherwise, due to financial hardship or other factors, she said.
Graduating students who reside in Hancock County and attend Eastern Hancock High School, Greenfield-Central High School, Mt. Vernon High School or New Palestine High School whose cumulative grade point average places them in the top 15 percent of their class may apply. The Hancock County Community Foundation will make the scholarship online application available Aug. 8.
Completed applications must be received by 4 p.m. Sept. 9.
The foundation works with individuals, families and organizations to create or grow existing permanent funds called endowments. These funds generate income distributed in the form of grants and scholarships to enrich and enhance life in Hancock County, as well as support the donor’s favorite charitable causes, both at home and afar. The foundation has granted more than $11 million since its inception in 1992.
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Lilly Foundation Scholarship applications are now due in the fall. Applications will become available at givehcgrowhc.org Aug. 8, and will be due by 4 p.m. Sept. 9.
Graduating students who reside in Hancock County and attend one of its four public high schools, and whose cumulative grade point average places them in the top 15 percent of their class, may apply.
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