December 20, 2019 – Fort Wayne, IN – The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne has named five Allen County students as the 2020 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars. The students will receive a four year, full tuition scholarship to an Indiana college of their choice and a $900 yearly book stipend for required books and equipment. In order to be eligible, Allen County students have to demonstrate successfully overcoming an obstacle, as well as show financial need, academic performance, and community involvement and provide a personal statement of goals.
The students chosen as the 2020 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars for Allen County are:
- Irasema “Sammy” Hernandez Trujillo from Snider High School
- Cooper Scholl from Homestead High School
- Janie Lantz from New Haven High School
- Hay Dah Moo from North Side High School
- Storm Braaten from Heritage High School
“On behalf of Allen County, we express our appreciation and gratitude to Lilly Endowment Inc. and Independent Colleges of Indiana for providing this very generous support,” remarked Brad Little, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. “These young students have persevered through unimaginable circumstances. It’s both humbling and a privilege to help these deserving young people reach their academic goals. We wish them continued success on their educational journeys and look forward to their positive impact.”
Including the 23rd cohort, 4,769 full-tuition scholars have been awarded and over $405M in scholarship tuition has been provided through the LECSP since the program’s inception in 1998. Statewide there was 143 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships awarded. Out of 106 Allen County students who applied, 26 applications were nominated for review by the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Selection Committee at the Community Foundation. Finalists’ applications were then submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana for the final selection of the recipients.
The primary purposes of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program are 1) to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana; 2) to increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities; and 3) 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.
For nearly 100 years, the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne has been a public charitable foundation serving Allen County since 1922. The Community Foundation had assets of approximately $141.7 million at December 31, 2018 and awarded more than $6 million in charitable grants and scholarships in that year. The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne does three things: help people make their charitable giving more impactful, connect funding to nonprofits through effective grantmaking, and provide leadership to address community needs to improve quality of life. Every day we connect people and resources to build a more vibrant community.
For pictures of the 2020 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars visit our scholarships page, check out our Facebook, or email Meg.