WABASH, Ind. – Wabash High School senior Cheyenne King has been named the 2017 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar from Wabash County. The prestigious scholarship, administered by the Community Foundation of Wabash County, provides a full tuition scholarship for four years to an accredited college or university in Indiana. Cheyenne is the 36th student from Wabash County to receive the award since 1998.
Cheyenne plans to major in missions and minor in Christian education in order to pursue a career as a missionary. The Wabash High School senior has a passion for helping others and aspires to educate and aid less fortunate individuals in other countries.
Aside from focusing on her academics, Cheyenne is very involved in her school and local community. She is a member of National Honor Society, the Superintendent’s Advisory Group, Drama Club, Yearbook Committee, and serves as the Student Council Treasurer of the Senior Class. She has volunteered at Wellbrooke of Wabash, Kids Hope Mentoring, UNICEF, Relay for Life, and recently participated in a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. Additionally, Cheyenne is a manager for the high school football, basketball, and baseball teams, and holds a part-time job at Subway.
Cheyenne takes great pride in her education and is driven to succeed. Throughout her educational career, she has been named Top Overall Student from 2008-2010, was the middle school salutatorian during the 2012-2013 school year, was named French Student of the Year consecutively for four years, and received the Academic Excellence Award in 2015 and 2016.
Lilly Endowment, Inc. created the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship roughly 19 years ago to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana and to leverage further the ability of Indiana’s community foundations to enhance the quality of life of the state’s residents. Community foundations in each Indiana county administer the scholarship for Lilly Endowment, Inc. In Wabash County, the scholarship is awarded based on nearly a dozen factors, including academic achievement, financial circumstances, leadership, communication, volunteerism, initiative, and recommendations.
The Community Foundation received 32 applications for the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. Each applicant is an exceptional student and the product of individual hard work and excellent education in Wabash County. The selection process for the single scholarship is always competitive, but finalists are mutually supportive of their classmates contending for the prize. The Community Foundation congratulates Cheyenne King on her selection as the 2017 Lilly Scholar and commends all applicants and finalists. Like the Wabash County Lilly Scholars before her, Cheyenne will undoubtedly make important contributions to our community and the world.
The Community Foundation of Wabash County is a nonprofit public charity established in 1954. It serves the citizens of Wabash County by implementing their charitable aspirations, making grants, investing and safeguarding charitable assets, providing information regarding charitable endeavors, convening citizens, and linking resources to address issues confronting our shared lives. Visit us at
www.cfwabash.org and like us on Facebook.
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By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
Cheyenne King’s mother told her and her siblings to dress nicely for school on Wednesday. Their father, she said, was going to take them out for dinner.
A Wabash High School senior, Cheyenne learned Wednesday afternoon it was all a ruse. The truth, she learned from Julie Garber, program director for the Community Foundation of Wabash County, that she was the 2017 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship recipient from Wabash County.
She received a round of applause from her family members gathered in the WHS conference room, as well as WHS Principal Kyle Wieland and City Schools Superintendent Jason Callahan.
As a Lilly Scholar, Cheyenne received a full tuition scholarship to an Indiana college or university, as well as an annual book and supply stipend of $900 for the next four years.
“It’s just amazing,” Cheyenne said, once the realization set in. “When you want to go to a private school it’s not cheap.”
She plans to major in missions and minor in Christian education with the hopes of pursuing a career as a missionary. She is eying Taylor University to further her education.
For more, see the Dec. 21 issue of The Paper of Wabash County.
