LAWRENCEBURG, INDIANA, DECEMBER 13, 2016 – A Dearborn County high school senior recently learned she is the recipient of a prestigious Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship (LECS). The Dearborn Community Foundation (DCF) awarded the full-tuition scholarship to East Central High School’s Lauren Rabold.
The Foundation staff and members of the board of directors and the scholarship committee notified the 2017 LECS recipient and her family during a surprise visit this week. Rabold receives a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to the Indiana college of her choice along with an $900 yearly stipend for required books and equipment.
“The purpose of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program is to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana and to further leverage the ability of Indiana’s community foundations to enhance the quality of life of the state’s residents,” said Fred McCarter, Executive Director of DCF.
“Lauren is fine young woman who was selected among an excellent group of applicants for the high honor of receiving the Lilly scholarship,” McCarter said. “Our community should be very proud of this honor student and the other five finalists for this prestigious award.”
Rabold of Miller Township is the daughter of Christine and Matthew Rabold. She is undecided about what college she will attend, but plans to study Political Science. At East Central, Rabold has been very active in many clubs and groups, including: Academic Team; Girl Scouts; Book Club; French Club; Jazz Band; Cincinnati Youth Ensemble; and Winter Percussion Ensemble. Rabold also participated in Girls State, where she received nominations for several awards and was considered for Girls Nation. She also participated in the Business Professionals of America and was ranked second at the regional conference and 10th at the state conference. She received a Girl Scouts Gold Award for 50 hours of community volunteering. Rabold also found time to work part-time during her high school years.
DCF administers the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship (LECS) Program in Dearborn County for Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment, Inc. A five-member scholarship committee and the DCF staff annually review each application during Phase I of the scholarship process. During Phase I, committee members know applicants only by a number assigned to them. Each committee member assigns scores to each applicant based on an essay written to address a specific question. DCF assigns additional scores based on financial need, cumulative academic scores (includes SAT, ACT & GPA), and number of family dependents.
Based on the highest total scores during Phase I of the process, six Lilly finalists are selected to move on in the process. In early February, the finalists complete Phase II of the selection process, which consists of a personal interview, including a PowerPoint presentation to the scholarship committee and writing an impromptu essay on a specific topic.
The scholarship committee then nominates one student to receive the scholarship allotted to Dearborn County, based on highest cumulative scores from Phase II of the scholarship process. The Foundation board of directors approves the nominee and the nominee’s information is then sent to Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), a non-profit corporation that represents 31 regionally accredited degree granting, non-profit, private colleges and universities in the state. The ICI Selection Committee, made up of Indiana public and private college representatives, community foundation members and graduate scholarship recipients, reviews the nomination and forwards its final selection to DCF in late March.
LILLY FINALISTS RECEIVE DCF SCHOLARSHIP
The five remaining LECS finalists are recognized as 2017 Dearborn Community Foundation Scholarship recipients. Each student receives a $1,000 scholarship paid directly to the student’s school. The scholarship is renewable for up to four years of secondary education at the college or university of the student’s choice. The Foundation is pleased to award the 2017 DCF scholarships to: Taylor Gregory, Lawrenceburg High School; Georgia Hummel, South Dearborn High School; Brian Murphy, Lawrenceburg High School; Andrew Weissman, South Dearborn High School; and Audrey Williams, East Central High School.