For likely the first time, both Howard County Lilly scholars hail from Northwestern High School.
Alex Arnold and Janna Wilson are this year’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipients.
Arnold was recognized at Thursday’s Northwestern School Board meeting.
He plans to go to Butler University to study pharmacology. Arnold is involved in CyberTooth 3940, Northwestern’s robotics team, German club, volunteers at Goodwill and works part time.
Butler University covers room and board for Lilly scholars.
Arnold was selected as a Lilly scholar after Kokomo High School’s Noah Thompson declined the award to accept a different scholarship.
“We’re really proud to have two Lilly scholars, which is a really big deal,” said Tim Shoaff, Northwestern High School principal.
Each Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship provides for four years of full tuition, required fees and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for books and equipment. 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.
The scholarship goes to two Howard County seniors each year.
Wilson was recognized at Northwestern’s January school board meeting.
She is captain of the robotics team, plays trumpet in marching band and served as a board member on the FIRST Indiana Robotics Student Board of Directors.
Wilson plans to attend Trine University to study mechanical engineering. Trine also covers room and board for Lilly scholars. Wilson said it will allow her to pick up a minor.
“It means the world to me,” she said.
KHS’s Thompson accepted a QuestBridge Scholarship to attend Notre Dame University on a full ride.
According to Questbridge’s website, the program “connects the nation’s most exceptional, low-income youth with leading colleges and opportunities.”
Notre Dame was Thompson’s first choice. His dad also attended the university. Thompson is the second KHS student to receive a QuestBridge Scholarship in the last four years.
“To have to decline it for the honor of the QuestBridge is amazing,” high school principal Angela Blessing said Monday. “For him to continue on the legacy that his father, who was a Kokomo graduate, also went to Notre Dame is really, really exciting.”
Thompson plans to study computer science.
He is part of the entrepreneurial Kokomo CEO program, was named an Indiana Rising Star and received the National Commended Hispanic Scholar Recognition Award.
Thompson is a member of the soccer, cross country and track and field teams at KHS.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
