Committees deep into Putnam Lilly Scholar selection process

Dean Gambill

September is a busy time for at least two of our volunteer committees at the Putnam County Community Foundation. Our Finance Committee is looking at finances and budgeting for next year, and the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Selection Committee, is deep into reviewing Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship (LECS) applications.

Lilly Endowment Inc. has partnered with Indiana’s community foundation for 25 years with the LECS program. Every county is allotted at least one scholarship, with the exact number based on county population. Counties under 50,000 can award one scholarship.

The scholarship pays tuition and books to any Indiana college or university of the scholar’s choice for four years. Criteria and processes for awarding the scholarship are left up to each county. However, they must be approved by the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI), which administers the program annually.

The criteria for the Putnam County LECS award include scholastic ability and intellectual pursuits, the capacity to lead and motivate fellow students, social commitment and extracurricular involvement, and the ability to articulate a career plan that shows motivation, initiative, and commitment. The LECS committee has the difficult task of selecting which applicant best meets these ideals. Applicants must have GPA and SAT scores of at least 3.8 and 1120. Yes, it is a difficult task. Eight members, two residing in each school district, and a non-voting Chair comprise the selection committee.

Here is the process for our LECS selection.

• Beginning Aug. 1, students can start their LECS application process with the deadline for submitting those applications on the Wednesday following Labor Day.

• Community Foundation staff and the LECS Chair blind the applications and create tables of GPA and SAT scores. Blinding the applications means that all identifiable information is redacted, including the student’s high school and the identity of those submitting letters of recommendation. Committee members only know the applicants by an application number.

• One week after the application deadline, the committee meets and reviews the blinded GPA and SAT tables. The committee determines if any applicants will be removed from the applicant pool.

• Committee members are then given access to the blind applications and spend the next week reading, reviewing, scoring, and ranking the applicants. The committee meets, and the rankings of each applicant are submitted by each committee member and tabulated. The committee then determines which eight applicants will be named semi-finalists and invited to a LECS dinner. At that time, committee members are given access to the full, unredacted applications and take a week to further review the applications before the dinner.

• The semi-finalists have dinner with the committee members, where they interact with different committee members over the various courses of the meal. Committee members rotate tables at the beginning of each course so that they can interact with each semi-finalist.

• The committee reassembles the next day to rank the applicants based on reviewing the entire applications and impressions from interactions during the dinner. The rankings are again tabulated, and the committee selects up to four applicants for personal interviews.

• The interviews occur ten days later. Each interview is up to 30 minutes in length. Following the interviews, the committee members rank the applicants one final time based on their previous scoring. The rankings are compiled, and the LECS scholar and alternates are determined.

• Documents and nomination forms are then submitted to ICI for approval. ICI’s approval involves verifying that we followed our procedures as approved.

It is an intense and challenging process because of the number of outstanding students in Putnam County. The process begins in June with submitting our processes and procedures to ICI and concludes in mid-December when the Putnam County Community Scholar is announced.

We look forward to announcing the LECS finalists in the upcoming weeks.

The Putnam County Community Foundation (PCCF) works alongside individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to build a stronger Putnam County. PCCF is home to more than 300 charitable funds and has awarded more than $16 million in grants and scholarships since its founding in 1985. To learn more about the PCCF, visit www.pcfoundation.org or call 653-4978.