Brooke Wagner named the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Recipient
The Community Foundation of Wabash County is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Wabash County is Brooke Wagner of Wabash High School. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars (LECS) are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership.
Brooke Wagner will attend either Ball State University or Purdue University in the fall of 2024 as a major in environmental engineering. As a little child, she pictured herself as an astronomer, but in high school, she became more interested in using her education to “focus on the living world beneath my feet, rather than the cosmos above. Through my studies, I will aim to be a factor for change.”
In her application, Brooke said, “Being a first-generation college student means I get to represent the true accomplishments of my mom and dad as parents. I also get to show a generation of students in similar situations that there are resources for college.”
In determining Wabash County’s LECS nominee, consideration was given to a balance of academic achievement, financial circumstances, participation and leadership in school activities, volunteer opportunities and work experience. After the field of applicants was narrowed, the nominee was submitted to ICI, the statewide administrator of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program, which approves the final selection of scholarship recipients.
Lilly Endowment created the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program for the 1998-99 school year and has supported the program every year since with 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.