Students awarded endowed scholarships from the Greene County Foundation

Some of Greene County's brightest and best high school graduates will receive scholarships to further their education through the Greene County Community Foundation.

The Greene County Community Foundation announced the awarding of more than $20,000 in scholarship funds Wednesday.

The scholarships are administered by the foundation or set up in endowment funds -- and awarded this year to graduating students from the Linton-Stockton, Bloomfield, Eastern Greene, White River Valley and the MSD of Shakamak school districts, according to Foundation Executive Director Kerry Conway.

The Foundation currently has a scholarship endowment fund of approximately $1.3 million, Conway said.

Five $500 Foundation Achievement Scholarships were presented to students from each of the county's school districts from proceeds derived the annual Greene County Foundation Festival -- featuring the Evening with Roy Clark Show.

The foundation's scholarship committee, chaired by Brad Crites, reviewed more than 80 applications before making their final selections on this year's field of scholarship recipients.

Conway said the field of this year's applicants was a good one.

"It was a very, very impressive group. I hope at least some of them will stay here or come back home after college. I have to say if we had had three times as much money to give away, it probably wouldn't have been enough," Conway told the Greene County Daily World.

Greene County Foundation

Scholarships 2008

* The Dale and Tillie Jessup Memorial Scholarship pays entire expected family contribution plus stipend for books and supplies for four years.

The recipients must major in agriculture or a related field.

The pool of funds available for this year's scholarship winners is about $17,000 and is derived from profits on 100 acres of farmland that was donated to the foundation by the Jessups, who live in rural Lyons.

The money is distributed based on the College Cost Estimator calculation of expenses from each college that the students will be attending.

The winners -- Ben Held and Stephanie Decker are both from White River Valley High School.

Held is the son of Wade and Denise Held of rural Linton and Decker is the daughter of Joe and Julie Decker of rural Worthington. Held will attend Purdue University in West Lafayette and major in Wildlife with a minor in Natural Resources. Decker will also attend Purdue and major in pre-vet.

* Walters Scholarship, $1,000, presented by Kathy and Carolea Walters in memory of their parents, former Linton Mayor Robert Walters and his wife, Marjorie -- Melinda Kurtz, the daughter of Julie Johnson of Linton. Melinda will attend the University of Evansville and major in journalism.

* Angell Family Scholarship, $600 each -- The winners include: Ellen Sichting, Bloomfield Junior-Senior High; Leah McDonald, Linton-Stockton High School and Allison Young, Linton-Stockton High School.

Sichting is the daughter of Dan and Lucinda Sichting of Bloomfield. She will attend Franklin College and major in International Business and Political Science.

McDonald is the daughter of Darren and Tana McDonald of Linton. She will attend either Indiana State, University of Southern Indiana or Ivy Tech Community College and major in radiology technology.

Young is the daughter of Charles and Tamara Young of Linton. She will attend the University of Evansville and major in neuroscience.

* Eastern Greene Special Achievement Scholarship, $500 -- Tayla Fields, from Eastern Greene High School. She is the daughter of Troy and Sandra Fields and will attend Franklin College and major in pre-dentistry.

* Linton-Stockton Special Achievement Scholarship, $500 -- Jordan Tharp, a senior at Linton-Stockton High School. He is the son of Roger and Liz Tharp. Jordan will attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and major in chemical engineering.

* White River Valley High School Special Achievement Scholarship, $500 -- Preston Braswell, White River Valley Junior-Senior High School. He is the son of Matt and Jackie McCammon. He will attend Vincennes University and major in graphic arts.

* Shakamak Special Achievement Scholarship, $500 -- Ashley Rehmel, from Shakamak Junior-Senior High. She is the daughter of Todd and Kallie Rehmel of rural Jasonville. She will attend Indiana State University and major in criminal justice/computer science.

* Bloomfield Special Achievement Scholarship, $500 -- Ross Smith, a senior at Bloomfield Junior-Senior High School. Ross is the son of Randy and Teressa Smith of Bloomfield. He will attend Indiana University and major in Secondary Education and Spanish.

* Linton Sporting Goods Scholarship, presented by Tom and Patti Jones, $500 -- Elizabeth Carpenter, Linton-Stockton High School. She is the daughter of Mark and Sandra Sue Carpenter. Elizabeth will attend Indiana University and major in Biology.

* Linton Mayor's Scholarship, presented by Mayor Tom Jones, $500 -- Levi Baysinger, Linton-Stockton High School. Levi is the son of Patricia and Martin Baysinger. He will attend Indiana University and major in nursing.

* Bart Burris Eastern Greene Football Scholarship, $500 -- Chelsie Schwartz. Chelsie served as student manager for the Eastern football team. She is the daughter of Erin and the late Ron Schwartz. She is undecided about her college choice, but will major in nursing.