Concordia Lutheran High School published the following release:
A Concordia Lutheran High School student was awarded the prestigious 2021 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship this morning.
The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne awarded senior Chastity Craig with a full-ride scholarship to any four-year Indiana college or university.
Click here to see a short video from the announcement.
“We are so happy and excited for Chastity and her family. Chastity has dedicated her four years to working hard in the classroom and in her extracurriculars, all the while helping her family as they dealt with her mom’s health struggles over the years,” said Nicole Bolinger, Craig’s guidance counselor at Concordia. “She is such a humble young woman, and she is a light at Concordia for her fellow students as well as the staff and faculty.”
The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne has named five Allen County students as the 2021 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars. The students will receive a four-year, full tuition scholarship to an Indiana college of their choice and a $900 yearly book stipend for required books and equipment. In order to be eligible, Allen County students have to demonstrate successfully overcoming an obstacle, as well as show financial need, academic performance, and community involvement and provide a personal statement of goals.
With the 2021 24th cohort, 4,912 full-tuition scholarships have been awarded and more than $424 million in scholarship tuition has been provided through the program’s inception in 1998. Out of 90 Allen County students who applied, 24 finalists were reviewed by the local Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Selection Committee at the Community Foundation. Finalists’ applications were then submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana for the final selection of the five recipients.
“The selection committee was impressed with Chastity’s resiliency in facing hardships and her desire to seek an education that will ultimately result in positioning her to help others,” said Christine Meek, vice president of nonprofit excellence at the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.
Craig is considering attending either Indiana University or IUPUI and studying forensic science.