2019 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship awarded
Noah Daniel Phillips, a 2019 graduating student at Corydon Central High School (CCHS), was getting ready for school on Dec. 10 when his cell phone rang. The phone call was to tell Mr. Phillips that he had been invited back to the Harrison County Community Foundation (HCCF) for a second interview for the 2019 Harrison County Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. In reality the meeting was to let him know that he was Harrison County’s 2019 scholarship recipient.
After Mr. Phillips listened to his voicemail message, he immediately called HCCF back saying that he and his father, Danny, could come for the interview that day.
When Mr. Phillips walked into HCCF’s meeting room, he was met by a room full of smiling faces. South Harrison Community School Corporation (SHCSC) Superintendent Dr. Mark Eastridge, SHCSC Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Tami Geltmaker, CCHS Principal Keith Marshall, HCCF staff and HCCF Board Chair Barbara Middleton were all on hand to congratulate Mr. Phillips and his father.
When Steve Gilliland, HCCF’s President and CEO, told Mr. Phillips that there was no second interview and that he was the 2019 Harrison County Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipient, Mr. Phillips was surprised and excited.
Mr. Phillips will receive full tuition to the Indiana college or university of his choice, as well as a $900 yearly stipend for required books and equipment. This scholarship means he will not have to worry about the cost of his undergraduate education.
Mr. Phillips traveled a different path to receive the Harrison County Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship than past recipients. It was not until one day in a science class his sophomore year when he began to focus on his schoolwork.
“Mrs. York called me out in class and said, ‘You can do so much better, so much better than you are now,’” Mr. Phillips said. “I don’t know why, but I just started trying.”
Mr. Phillips said he plans to thank Mrs. York for that moment, because it is obvious that her confidence in him and his regained focus has paid off.
Dr. Eastridge said that Mr. Phillips is one measure of the success of SHCSC because he is a student going to college to get a good career, and Mr. Marshall agreed.
“He’s very deserving of it,” Mr. Marshall said.
While at CCHS, Mr. Phillips has been on the varsity soccer and track teams. He plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in Spanish, and he hopes to attend IU Bloomington.
Graduating Harrison County high school students began applying for the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in August. Eighty-one students applied. In October, a volunteer committee of four former HCCF board members participated in a blind scoring and interview process.
Six Harrison County applicants were interviewed, and three finalists’ names and applications were submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), which administers the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program and selects the final recipient.
ICI is a nonprofit corporation representing 30 regionally accredited degree-granting, nonprofit private colleges and universities in the state. Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships are the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment, Inc. initiative to 1) help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana; 2) increase awareness of the beneficial roles Indiana community foundations can play in their communities; and 3) 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.
To learn more about the HCCF scholarship programs, please contact Heather Stafford, Director of Programs, at 812-738-6668 or heathers@hccfindiana.org.
Harrison County Community Foundation
PO Box 279 1523 Foundation Way Corydon, Indiana 47112
Phone: 812-738-6668 Fax: 812-738-6864
www.hccfindiana.org