Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Announcement for Decatur County
The Decatur County Community Foundation is pleased to announce Makayla Somers of South Decatur High School as the recipient of the 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Decatur County.
Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership. Somers demonstrates these characteristics through many activities. She is involved in her school’s volleyball, basketball and cheerleading teams. She currently serves as President of Student Council and Class President, and is on the prom and homecoming committees. She is a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, National Honor Society, 4-H, and a student director for Decatur County United Fund. Somers is active in her church and has volunteered for Clarity, Cheer Fund, and the animal shelter, among other groups. She is the daughter of Herb and Carrie Somers.
The four remaining finalists for the Decatur County Lilly Scholarship receive a DCCF Community Scholarship. This year, the four runners-up include Savannah Danforth from Greensburg High School (daughter of Sasha and Cory Howard); Christopher Mains from Greensburg High School (son of Kennita Mains and Tony Mains); Cooper Parmer from North Decatur (son of Tad and Angie Parmer); and Chase Tekulve from Greensburg High School (son of Elliott and Katina Tekulve). Each of these students will receive a $5,000 scholarship from DCCF. This year’s runners-up will also receive an additional $1,000 each, donated by Lynda Smith in memory of her husband, William O. Smith. Bill Smith was a founder of the Decatur County Community Foundation and creator of the local Lilly Scholarship process.
The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship provides for full tuition, required fees and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for required books and 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.
In determining Decatur County’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholar nominees, a set of judges first evaluated applicants’ community and school involvement. A second set of judges scored a controlled essay. After applicants were narrowed down, a third set of judges scored a prepared speech and a series of impromptu questions. Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), the statewide administrator of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, then made the final selection of scholarship recipients.
Lilly Endowment created the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program for the 1997-98 school year. Since then, grant funding in excess of $490 million has supported more than 5,300 Indiana students who have received scholarships through the program.
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.
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.
