GREENFIELD — Tessa Freeman’s journey toward community service started in first grade.
“This was the first time I experienced what I called ‘the worrying thing,’” Tessa said. “What I didn’t know at the time was that it was actually anxiety.”
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But Tessa didn’t let her struggles with anxiety define her. In fact, they sparked a passion to make a difference in other people’s lives.
Ellie Griesmeyer feels a similar passion, too. An eager volunteer for a variety of community organizations, Ellie is driven to help those who are less fortunate or who just need a boost to succeed.
This week, the young women’s contributions to their community were recognized. Tessa, a senior at Mt. Vernon High School; and Ellie, a senior at Eastern Hancock High School, were named winners of the Lilly Endowment Scholarship for 2020. The scholarship provides four-year, full-tuition support for the winners. Tessa and Ellie were chosen from among eight finalists announced in October by a committee formed by the Hancock County Community Foundation.
The awards were presented at a reception on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the Hancock County Community Foundation.
Tessa said her experiences with anxiety, with which she was diagnosed in fifth grade, have shaped the kind of person she wants to be.
“At the time, I thought, ‘why me?’ Why was I stuck with this and why was my family stuck with having to deal with it? But now I realize that it’s one of the best things that ever happened to me. My struggle with mental health is where my passion comes from for helping others.”
Tessa’s service work includes volunteering at Hancock Hope House in Greenfield and starting a chapter of Champions Together, a student organization at Mt. Vernon that brings disabled and non-disabled students together to play sports. She plans to major in neuroscience with the goal of becoming a child psychologist, neurosurgeon or mental health professional.
Though she is involved in a broad spectrum of activities at Mt. Vernon and has been chosen for several all-county and all-state athletic teams, Tessa said winning the scholarship is her proudest accomplishment yet.
“It’s the most amazing feeling of my life,” Tessa said. “When I got the call, I was in tears, shocked. The applicant pool was phenomenal. I knew some of the other people and they’re great, so it was really humbling.”
Tessa’s parents are both teachers — her father, Joe, teaches french at Mt. Vernon, while her mother, Kellie, teaches special education at Carmel Clay Schools — and she said the scholarship will have a major financial impact on her family.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Notre Dame, and that wasn’t attainable before,” Tessa said. “Now, hopefully, as long as I get accepted, that’s where I want to go.”
Kellie Freeman said her daughter’s scholarship award was well-deserved.
“She’s just worked so hard to be academically strong, and she really is passionate about giving back and volunteering,” Kellie Freeman. “It really helped her anxiety that she had to deal with. When you’re helping somebody else, you can’t always feel sorry for yourself.”
Ellie said she was surprised and excited to learn she was one of the scholarship recipients.
“I knew that they were going to start sending out calls around 4 (p.m.), so I had my phone out and had my ringer on expecting a call,” she said of the recent afternoon that the scholarship winners were notified. “I knew the later they call you, the better, because they call the finalists last. It was 4:15, so I was starting to think it might be good. I waited about five more minutes and they finally called me.
“I picked up the phone, my heart was racing, I was shaking,” Ellie said. When she was told she had won, “I started crying. I was screaming; it was awesome.”
Ellie said winning the scholarship has expanded the possibilities for her education, making it financially feasible for her to a private college, like Marian University, she would not have previously considered.
Ellie’s community service includes working with people with disabilities in FUSE’s Adaptive Swim program; volunteering at Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen; and other work. She also created a mentorship program that gives Eastern Hancock students the opportunity to shadow professionals. She plans to become a pediatric nurse.
Initially, Ellie said, she was hesitant to apply for the scholarship, not thinking her community service would be impressive enough to qualify, but her parents encouraged her to fill out an application.
“Obviously, we think she’s amazing, and she’s always been amazing,” Ellie’s mother, Jasmine Lee, said. “She’s one of the most sweet and caring and empathetic people that I know. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
The scholarship program, funded by the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly’s philanthropic foundation, provides full-tuition scholarships for students who are in the top 15 percent of their high school classes and plan to attend a four-year college in Indiana.
Though the program is funded by the Lilly Foundation, it is administered by county community foundations, who choose what selection criteria to apply. Hancock County most heavily weighs a student’s record of community service.
Since the Lilly Endowment Scholarship Program was started in 1998, 4,769 full-tuition scholars have been named. More than $405 million in scholarship tuition has been awarded.
Susan Bennett, a member of the Hancock County Community Foundation board, was the chair of this year’s selection committee, which interviewed each of the eight finalists. She said the Community Foundation’s choice to prioritize service echoes Hancock County’s priorities, which she hopes will stick with scholarship recipients throughout their lives.
“Both of those girls just really stood out in terms of their poise and the community service that they’ve provided already, in high school,” Bennett said. “We hope that they’ll share their enthusiasm for that in giving back to the community during college, and that they’ll maybe come back to Hancock County and give back.”
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Here are the finalists — two from each high school — for the Lilly Scholarship in Hancock County:
Benjamin Blachly, New Palestine High School
Anthony Fleming, Mt. Vernon High School
Tessa Freeman, Mt. Vernon High School
Ellie Griesmeyer, Eastern Hancock High School
Noah Hemminger-Jones, Greenfield-Central High School
Emma Nobbe, New Palestine High School
Logan Overman, Greenfield-Central High School
Paige Wickard, Eastern Hancock High School
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