GREENFIELD — Riley Settergren’s peers remember him as a friendly and advantageous young man. The kind of kid who was always willing to reach out a helpful hand.
When the 17-year-old died last July in a car accident, it affected everyone who knew him, his loved ones say. His family and friends decided in the months after his death that they’d pour their energy, their grief, into honoring Settergren’s spirit by furthering the ventures he loved.
As fair week approaches, members of Settergren’s 4-H club are preparing to present one of their friends with the first Riley Settergren 10-year 4-H Scholarship.
The $500 reward will be presented by the Country Kritters in partnership with the Riley Charles Settergren Foundations, the charitable organization Jay and Tammy Settergren created in their son’s memory, to a 10-year 4-H’er who has shown the same passion and enthusiasm for 4-H’s agriculture and citizenship programs as Settergren did.
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More than a dozen scholarships are handed out by various groups and organizations during the Hancock County 4-H Fair. Some aim to reward the good work a 4-H’er has done on a specific type of project. Others look to help youngsters further their education in agriculture or consumer science.
The Country Kritters’ Settergren scholarship will go to 4-H member who has shown some type of animal project each of the 10 years they’ve been involved with the program. The recipient must be pursuing some sort of secondary education, whether it be college or a trade school.
A small number of 10-year 4-H’ers applied for the scholarship, said Vickie Ramsey, a leader of the Country Kritters. Club members are still trying to narrow down who will receive the reward, she said.
It was Settergren’s young friends who came up with the requirements an applicant must display while vying for the scholarship, Ramsey told the Daily Reporter. They then checked with Riley’s family to ensure the reward fell within the mission of their new foundation.
The Riley Charles Settergren Foundation is a 501c3 dedicated to helping young people and growing local schools, athletic programs and 4-H groups through scholarships and financial aid.
Settergren’s family started the year with a goal of awarding two $1,000 scholarships to two Eastern Hancock High School seniors. Thanks to a flood of donations and financial support from the community, they were able to provide four $1,000 scholarships and four $500 scholarships to graduates.
They hope to grow their gift-giving in the future to include students from Greenfield-Central, New Palestine, Mt. Vernon and Knightstown high schools.
The community was also generous to the Country Kritters as the club fund-raised for its scholarship, said Caitlin Cox, a club member and classmate of Settergren’s.
The club needed to host only one fundraiser night — a dine-in at the Greenfield Dairy Queen — to collect the $500 members needed to give out the scholarship, she said.
And it’s been nice to honor their friend’s memory in this way, she said.
Settergren died on July 26.
He was riding in a pickup with two friends, shuttling pig feed and other supplies to and from his family’s farm as he prepared for an upcoming show.
They were struck by a large crop sprayer on a rural Hancock County road by a driver who hadn’t see the oncoming truck; tall cornstalks had obstructed his view, he told police.
Members of settergren’s 4-H club, like many of the groups around the county the teen was part of, were heartbroken by his loss, Cox said.
Settergren was always willing to help other 4-H’ers, she said, whether it was practicing with a nervous younger member in the months before the fair began or clipping pigs and shearing lambs to help friends prepare to show.
Everyone loved Riley, she said, and they just wanted to give back a little of what he gave them.
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Look inside for our 20-page preview of the 2018 Hancock County 4-H Fair, which kicks off Friday.
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