News

The Fayette Community Foundation is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Fayette County – Kaylee Hauger, of Connersville High School. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership.

“Kaylee Hauger embodies an unwavering commitment to academic excellence, community service, and leadership. The nominating committee believes her achievements and impact on the community align perfectly with the values of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, and I can’t help but agree,” said Abigail Roszell, Executive Director of the Fayette Community Foundation.

Each Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship provides for full tuition, required fees and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for required books and required equipment for four years. The scholarship is for full-time undergraduate students leading to a baccalaureate degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars may also participate in the Lilly Scholars Network (LSN), which connects both current scholars and alumni with resources and opportunities to be active leaders on their campuses and in their communities. Both the scholarship program and LSN are supported by grants from Lilly Endowment to Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) and Indiana Humanities.

“I have dreamed about being a Lilly Scholarship recipient since I was a little girl. This scholarship is a doorway to my lifelong goals, and I am extremely grateful for this incredible opportunity this community has given me. I am very excited to see what my future holds, and am proud to represent the Fayette County community in such an honorable way,” said Kaylee Hauger, Lilly Endowment Community Scholar.

In determining Fayette County’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholar nominees, consideration was given to academic achievement, volunteering and community engagement, extracurricular activities, recommendations, special circumstances, essay responses, and an in-person presentation and interview by the LECSP Nominating Committee.  After the field of applicants was narrowed down, nominees were submitted to ICI, the statewide administrator of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, which approves the final selection of scholarship recipients.

“This Lilly Scholarship application process tests candidates in a multitude of ways, and it can be extremely stressful. The initial pool of candidates was amazing, and all five finalists were exceptional with respect to the amount of inner strength, poise, and confidence they displayed throughout this process. They all demonstrated a strong desire to be successful individually, but their commitment and desire toward making a positive impact on their community and the world around them was even more impressive. This community has a great future ahead of it thanks to youth like these,” said Travis Morris, LECSP Committee Member.  

Lilly Endowment created the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program for the 1998-99 school year and has supported the program every year since with grants totaling in excess of $505 million. More than 5,200 Indiana students have received the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship since the program’s inception. 

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. 

The Fayette County Foundation’s mission is to inspire a spirit of philanthropy and leadership in Fayette County to enhance the quality of life. We connect donors and nonprofit agencies to improve the quality of life in our community. We help strengthen nonprofit agencies to better respond to community needs with financial support and capacity-building programs by providing grants from its unrestricted endowment and discretionary funds as well as from donor-advised funds.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

Since 1997, Independent Colleges of Indiana has administered the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program statewide with funding provided by Lilly Endowment. Founded in 1948, ICI serves as the collective voice for the state’s 29 private, nonprofit colleges and universities. ICI institutions employ over 22,000 Hoosiers and generate a total local economic impact of over $5 billion annually. Students at ICI colleges have Indiana’s highest four-year, on-time graduation rates, and ICI institutions produce 30 percent of Indiana’s bachelor’s degrees while enrolling 20 percent of its undergraduates.