2020 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars

Araceli Martinez (left), Hannah Dervin (center) and Sarah Joy are the 2020 Lilly Community Scholarship winners.

The Community Foundation of Elkhart County awarded three high school seniors with the 2020 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship at surprise announcements this spring.

Araceli Martinez of NorthWood, Hannah Dervin of Fairfield, and Sarah Joy of Concord were awarded full tuition for four years at any Indiana college or university.

The program, now in its 23rd year, has awarded 88 LECS to students in Elkhart County and 4,769 state-wide, thus far providing more than $405 million dollars in tuition scholarships since inception in 1998. Working with the community foundation, Independent Colleges of Indiana, the statewide administrator of the LECS program, selects three Elkhart County, first-generation, college-bound students each year.

Commenting on the awards, Community Foundation Career Pathways Chair, Rob Cripe, noted that the Community Foundation administers over 100 scholarship funds. “In our last fiscal year, the awards totaled $2.5 million to help hundreds of students from Elkhart County who are currently pursuing higher education. We are thrilled to be able to help students pursuing education that will strengthen Elkhart County and improve both their quality of life and of the community as a whole.”