2006 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Winners Community Foundation of Boone County

The Community Foundation of Boone County Announces Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Winners

27 March 2006

Casey Heck

Abby Howenstein

Two Boone County students will receive four-year, full tuition scholarships as the Community Foundation of Boone County 2006 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars.

Casey Heck and Abby Howenstein will receive not only full tuition to the Indiana college of their choice, but, also an $800 yearly stipend for required books and equipment.

Casey, daughter of Jeff and Debra Heck, is graduating from Lebanon Community High School. Casey is sixth out of 216 in her graduating class. She has been a four year member of the track team receiving all conference awards. In addition, she participated in cheerleading four years and has helped with cheerleading camps within the community. She has been a member of the student council and class council and has held leadership positions as president and secretary within her class. She has played a major role on the leadership team for the Junior Tiger Leadership camp sponsored by the student council. Casey also has been an active member of her Key Club and Z-Club providing many volunteer hours to help her community. Casey will attend Indiana University in the Hutton Honors College this fall to study apparel merchandising.

Abby, daughter of Michael Howenstein and Terry McCain of Zionsville, is graduating from Zionsville Community High School. Abby too is a high achiever and is fourth in her senior class of 306 students. She was a member of the marching band for four years and was drum major. In addition, she used her talents as part of the musical pit orchestra for three years. She was a four year member of Spanish club, holding both the treasurer and presidency positions. Abby was very involved in a number of clubs including science, key, economics and math clubs. In addition, she played softball for four years and helped with the Zionsville Little League in the summers. Abby plans to study chemistry and biology at Indiana University this fall.

Twelve students from Boone County out of forty-one applicants were interviewed for these two scholarships. Kasey Miller was interviewed from Western Boone. Lebanon High School students interviewed were Catherine Lyons, Casey Heck, Micah Weaver, Abigail Edwards, Breanna Davis, and Katie Jones. Abby Howenstein, Sven Moller-Tank, Anna Konradi and Nora Deeg were interviewed from Zionsville. Kristen Reinecke was a student who was interviewed from Park Tudor.

To be able to apply for this scholarship, the students had to be in the upper 20% of their senior class after seven semesters. A number of other factors were considered such as GPA, curriculum taken, honors received, test scores, extracurricular activities, community and volunteer involvement, need, work experience, references and an essay. Per Mark Ransom, scholarship chairman for the Community Foundation of Boone County, "It was a pleasure to meet the finalists who all interviewed very well." After the interviews, the Community Foundation of Boone County scholarship committee narrowed the field to two nominees and alternates. These finalists' names were submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana, Inc. (ICI) for the final selection of the recipients.

ICI is a nonprofit corporation that represents 31 regionally accredited degree granting, nonprofit, private colleges and universities in the state.

The scholarships are the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment Inc. initiative to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education. Indiana ranks among the lowest states in the percentage of residents over the age of 25 with a bachelor's degree. There were 216 scholarships awarded statewide.

Additional Information and Assistance:

The Community Foundation of Boone County
PO Box 92
Zionsville Indiana 46077
Voice: 317-873-0210 or 765-482-0024
FAX: 317-873-0219