Cass County Community Foundation Announces 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Recipient
Last Updated on December 9, 2024 by Cass County Communication Network
ABOVE: Deanna Crispen, CCCF President, 2025 Lilly Scholar Nicholas Park, and CCCF Chairman of the Board, Molly Long Sterrett
The Cass County Community Foundation is pleased to announce that Nicholas J. Park, a senior at Lewis Cass High School, is their 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership.
Nick is the son of Shelly Park and the late James Park and embodies all those characteristics and more. He plans to attend Purdue University or Rose Hulman Institute of Technology and study aerospace or nuclear engineering. with a minor in materials science. His long-term plans include a career as an engineer creating new technologies and ways to explore space and obtain energy. Nick currently has a 4.0 GPA on an unweighted 4.0 scale all while volunteering in the community and numerous extracurricular activities and leadership positions.
Each Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship provides full tuition, required fees and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for required books and required equipment for four years. The scholarship is for undergraduate students studying 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 (LSN), which connects both current scholars and alumni 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 (ICI) and Indiana Humanities.
Nick was selected from a pool of twenty-four candidates and is a member of many school organizations and active in National Honor Society where he has served as President, Spanish Club, Logansport Savings Bank Junior Board, and Key Club. He participates athletically in Football, Wrestling, and Track where he was All-Conference for multiple years and named Academic All-Conference in all three sports. He has received the Wrestling Mental Attitude Award, Set A Good Example Award, and four-year Varsity letters in Wrestling and Track.
Nick is ranked first in class and named a member of “Rising Star of Indiana Class of 2025”. He has volunteered at the Judson Road Christian Church, Live United Day, Elementary Wrestling Camp, and Kokomo Rescue Mission as well as working a part time job at the Walton Freeze.
Nichloas is the ninth recipient from Lewis Cass High School and the 44th Lilly Scholarship Recipient for Cass County since the program began in 1998.
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 philanthropic 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. The Endowment funds significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, 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 twenty-nine 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.
For more information on this award or the Cass County Community Foundation, please call 574-722-2200.
SOURCE: News release from Cass County Community Foundation