Wawasee’s Ally Eppert awarded Lilly Endowment Scholarship
Allyson Eppert with Wawasee staff.
Wawasee High School senior Allyson Eppert has been named a recipient of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Kosciusko County. The scholarship provides full tuition, fees, and an allocation for books and equipment for four years of full-time undergraduate study at any eligible Indiana university.
Ms. Eppert was informed of her success upon returning to school after Christmas break. She was originally selected as the alternate candidate and became an official recipient after Regan Brouwer of Warsaw Community High School declined the scholarship offer in order to accept an offer at Northwestern University in Illinois.
“Every year the selection committee designates a highly qualified and deserving alternate recipients, and this year the first alternate is Allyson Eppert,” said Stephanie Overbey, CEO of Kosciusko County Community Foundation, which administers Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships for the county. “We are thrilled that Allyson is receiving this award. She is a truly deserving and remarkable young woman!”
Allyson’s application was chosen due to her exceptional academic achievement, community involvement, character, and leadership. Upon graduation, she plans to attend Ball State University to study Behavioral and Social Science. After college, Allyson hopes to build a career as an addiction counselor or child psychologist.
Allyson is a straight-A honor student who finds time to take part in extra-curricular activities while working part time as a waitress and helping to care for her younger siblings. At school, she is part of the National Honors Society and Colorguard. She has volunteered as a Sunday School teacher at North Webster Church of God and at a local breeder, caring for animals.
Allyson’s teachers agree she is very deserving scholarship recipient. In a reference, she is described as “one incredible student” and “the most deserving of all the students I’ve written a recommendation for.”
“Allyson is an amazing all around person,” said another reference. “She is extremely friendly and outgoing. She cares deeply for others and knows what it takes to succeed.”
The selection process for the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship begins at the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where committee members review the applications without access to student names. The criteria evaluated by the committee members include academic excellence, community service, extracurricular involvement, work experience, references, and essay response. Once the committee selects the finalists, the Community Foundation submits these applicants to Independent College of Indiana (ICI), the statewide administrator of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, for the final selection of recipients.
Annually since 1998, Lilly Endowment Inc. has funded the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education in the belief that education is indispensable to the personal, civic, and economic well-being of Indiana communities and residents. Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis based philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by members of the Lilly family through stock gifts of their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly Endowment Inc. supports community development, education, youth, and religion.
The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship program is administered by Independent Colleges of Indiana, which serves as the collective voice for the state’s 29 private, nonprofit colleges, and universities.