Haley Webb has been named the recipient of the 2024 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in Fountain County. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership. Webb is the 43rd Fountain County recipient of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship.
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 of undergraduate study on a full-time basis 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, which connects scholars 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 and Indiana Humanities.
Webb of Fountain Central High School has plans to attend Indiana State University and pursue a career in Speech and Hearing Sciences. She ranks first in her graduating class with a 4.0 GPA. She is the daughter of Christopher and Krista Webb of Veedersburg.
Webb has been involved in numerous clubs, organizations and sporting activities as she pursued her high school education including tennis, swimming, Spanish club, National Honors Society, boys’ tennis manager and more. She also teaches a Sunday School Preschool class and has volunteered her time with many different organizations throughout her high school career.
One of Webb’s references wrote, “I have taught preschool for more than 20 years, and in all my time I have never seen a teenager be so devoted to giving back. Haley doesn’t do it because she needs to have more things on her resume. She doesn’t do it because her parents told her she should. She has always been a person who just helps because she knows there is a need. She interacts well with the students and their parents. Haley is just one of those people you are glad you know. She is kind and considerate of others. She leads her peers well as an athlete and in the classroom. She is extremely humble and thoughtful. I can’t wait to see the fruit from all the seeds she has planted in her young life.”
Twenty-seven Fountain County students applied for this year’s Lilly Scholarship. The first phase of the selection process included the high school faculty of each school recommending up to six applicants from their school to be considered by the local scholarship committee representing the same school district.
The second phase included each scholarship committee reviewing the applications and interviewing each applicant. Two nominees from each school are selected based on consensus.
The third phase of the selection process included each of the two nominees from each school being interviewed by the scholarship committees representing the two other school districts. Each committee member independently scores each applicant in six categories including academic performance, school activities and work, volunteerism, financial need, letters of reference and a personal interview with each committee member.
Following the final scoring, finalists were forwarded to Independent Colleges of Indiana Inc. for final selection of the Western Indiana Community Foundation’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipient.
Lilly Endowment created the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program for the 1998-1999 school year and has supported the program every year since with tuition 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.
