The Parke County Community Foundation is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2026 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship for Parke County – Emily Adams of Riverton Parke Jr-Sr High School. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are known for their community involvement, academic achievement, character, and leadership.
Emily is the epitome of what the Parke County Community Foundation looks for in a Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipient. Her dedication to serving Parke County, her outstanding academic performance, compassion for others and her interview skills are only some of the reasons she is deserving of this scholarship.
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.
“I am truly honored to be the Parke County recipient of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. My community means a lot to me, and to know that they support me is an incredible feeling. I am so grateful and blessed to be able to pursue my secondary education with financial stability,” said Emily Adams. “I would also like to thank the Parke County Community Foundation for providing me with this opportunity, as well as my family and school faculty for their guidance and support.”
“This year’s scholarship selection process was one of the most challenging we’ve experienced,” said Colleen Engle, Executive Director of the Parke County Community Foundation. “The students continue to raise the bar year after year, and every candidate we interviewed demonstrated remarkable strengths. Truly, there were no wrong choices—each student impressed us in their own exceptional way.”
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 more than $486 million. More than 5,000 Indiana students have received the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship since the program’s inception.
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 29 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.