Taylor's Lilly Scholarship Article

http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2010/03/31/news.048648.tms


Timbrook, Cox are 2010 scholars: www.tmnews.com

BY MIKE LEWIS

mikel@tmnews.com

3/31/2010

BEDFORD — Taylor Timbrook and her family cried happy tears when they heard the news. Megan Cox, on the other hand, had to rush off to work and didn’t get a chance to celebrate.


Timbrook and Cox Tuesday were named the Lawrence County Community Foundation’s 2010 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars. Each will receive a full-tuition scholarship to a four-year Indiana public or private college or university, along with an annual $800 stipend for required books.

“I found out about noon today,” Timbrook, a senior at Mitchell High School, said Tuesday. “I was really excited. I and my dad and both grandparents cried.”

Timbrook, the daughter of Joe Timbrook and Linda Dausend, plans to major in accounting at the University of Evansville.

“It has a wonderful business program,” she said of Evansville.

Eventually, she said, she would like to pursue a master’s degree in library science. But in asking library directors about their jobs, she was told accounting skills were critical. Plus, she said, getting a degree through Evansville’s business school will provide “a really well-rounded education.”

Cox, the daughter of Greg and Kim Cox, is considering a major in engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. She also learned Tuesday that she was a scholarship recipient. A letter from the community foundation was awaiting her when she arrived home from school.

“But then I had to go to work (at Jiffy Treet in Bedford) right away, so I didn’t get to tell anyone,” she said Tuesday night.

Like Timbrook, Cox plans to pursue her education past the bachelor’s level.

Twenty-six students applied for the scholarships, which are awarded to two students, one from BNL and one from Mitchell.

The selection committee, made up of volunteer community residents, narrowed the field to the final 10.

In addition to Timbrook and Cox, the other finalists included Whitney Lovell, Blake Osborn, Alan Vandagriff and Hannah Yates from BNL and Wesley Burcham, Carly Kern, Rick Morse and Brendon Young from Mitchell.

The finalists completed an impromptu essay and were interviewed by the selection committee.

The committee nominated the two recipients as well as two alternates, who will not be named unless a recipient forfeits a scholarship.

These names were submitted to the Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) for final selection of the recipients. ICI is a nonprofit corporation that represents 31 regionally accredited degree granting, nonprofit, private colleges and universities in the state.

The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships are the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education.

Statewide, 216 Lilly scholarships were awarded.