2021 Lilly Endowment, DCF Scholarship Recipients Announced

East Central's Heath Doll is the recipient of the prestigious Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. Five others nominees received DCF Scholarships.

Top row (left to right): Gracie Collins, Julia Williamson, and Mae Crosby. Bottom roe (left to right): Emma Beckman, Audrey Crow, and Heath Doll. Photos provided. 

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - A Dearborn County high school senior learned today that he 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 Heath Doll.

The Foundation staff and members of the board of directors and the scholarship committee notified the 2021 LECS recipient earlier today. Doll receives a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to the Indiana college of his choice along with an $900 yearly stipend for required books and equipment.

The LECS is the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment, Inc. initiative 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; 3) and 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, not-for-profit and civic leaders to improve the quality of life in Indiana generally and in local communities throughout the state.

“Heath is fine young man who was selected among an excellent group of applicants for the high honor of receiving the Lilly scholarship,” said Fred McCarter, Executive Director of DCF. “Our community should be very proud of this honor student and the other five finalists for this prestigious award.”

Doll of New Alsace is the son of CeCelia and Alan Doll. He plans to study Engineering at Purdue University. At East Central, Doll has been active in many clubs and groups, including: East Central FFA Chapter; National Honor Society; St. Charles CCD Program; and Manchester Rowdies 4-H Club. Honors/Position, include: East Central FFA Chapter Star Greenhand Award; FFA Treasurer; Manchester Rowdies 4-H Club Secretary; FFA Sentinel; and President of Manchester Rowdies 4-H Club. Doll also found time to complete a significant amount of volunteering in the community. He even had time for a summer job and to work during the school year too!

DCF administers the LECS Program in Dearborn County. 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 assign scores to each blinded application 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 to Phase II of the selection process. In October, 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 30 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 of the recipient to DCF in early December.

Lilly Endowment Inc. has provided more than $424 million in grant support for the LECS program, since its inception in 1998. A total of 4,912 Indiana high school students have been awarded the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship.

OTHER FIVE LILLY FINALISTS RECEIVE DCF SCHOLARSHIP

The five remaining LECS finalists are recognized as 2021 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 2021 DCF scholarships to: Emma Beckman, Oldenburg Academy (resident of South Dearborn Community School Corporation area); Graycie Collins, South Dearborn High School; Mae Crosby, Lawrenceburg High School; Audrey Crow, Lawrenceburg High School; and Julia Williamson, East Central High School.