Scholarship Stories

Each fall, the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County administers two Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships for local students. This undergraduate scholarship program covers full tuition, required fees, and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for required books and equipment for four years at eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit colleges or universities. Lilly Endowment Community Scholars are also eligible to participate in the Lilly Scholars Network (LSN), which connects current scholars and alumni with resources and opportunities to be active leaders on their campuses and in their communities. The scholarship program and LSN are supported by grants from Lilly Endowment to Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) and Indiana Humanities.

For Shannon Killeen (formerly Jager), receiving the Monroe County Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in 2013 erased “any excuse not to pursue her goals and passions.” Killeen, an alumnus of Bloomington High School North, learned that she was a recipient of the Lilly scholarship in late fall of her senior year. Now a graduate of Depauw University and the Indiana University School of Medicine, Shannon shared with us some reflections about the impact of the Lilly Scholarship on her life as a young professional. As academic scholarships do for many talented Monroe County students every year, it shaped her personal and professional path in significant ways, and she has since dedicated herself to a life of service to others in her home state of Indiana.

Shannon remembers the day she got the Lilly Scholarship as “one of the top days of her life,” and above all else recalls the immediate and overwhelming sense of gratitude she felt for Monroe County. As a native Hoosier, Shannon already possessed a great love and appreciation for Bloomington and her childhood here in Indiana. The Lilly Scholarship offered her the opportunity to explore options for an academic future in Indiana, including those at schools she might otherwise have overlooked. In the Spring of 2013, Shannon committed to Depauw University, a small liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana. Before receiving the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship, Shannon hadn’t considered Depauw, and she credits the scholarship with directing her towards a school that led her to great success.

Shannon credits the Lilly Scholarship with alleviating the financial stressors of college, enabling her to immerse herself in student life fully. The Lilly Scholarship allowed her to save money and travel to Ecuador for two weeks with the Timmy Global Health organization to set up medical brigades in the Amazon rainforest. She also took advantage of the opportunity to spend a semester abroad in Spain, where she lived with a host family for four months and took classes. Many of her favorite college memories stem from her time in a philanthropic sorority. As part of her sorority’s philanthropy, Shannon became certified as a court-appointed advocate in the legal system and assisted families in navigating the court system through CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). This opportunity strengthened her desire to work with children in her future career in the medical profession.

In 2017, Shannon graduated from DePauw with degrees in Biochemistry and Spanish, and a desire to continue her work as a community advocate through a career in the medical field. Before attending medical school, she took a gap year to work as an emergency room scribe in Bloomington. When it came time to apply to medical schools, she decided to stay in Indiana and attend the IU School of Medicine. The cultural atmosphere of Indianapolis, combined with its close proximity to her family in Bloomington, drew the city close to her heart.

As a first-year resident at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Shannon continued to appreciate her life in Indiana. Shannon, her husband, and their dog, Rosie, moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 2023 to continue her residency in recreational and rehabilitative medicine, with an eventual focus on pediatrics. Shannon then returned and is a practicing physician in Indianapolis.

When reflecting on the ways her community has supported and influenced her career path, Shannon emphasizes the value she places on interacting with and serving the diverse Indianapolis community in her daily work. As a medical student, she was highly involved with the IU Student Outreach Clinic, a clinic that serves those who traditionally experience difficulties accessing healthcare. This was one of the most formative experiences of her early career, providing her with valuable insights into preventive care and motivational decision-making with patients. It also encouraged her to explore ways in which she could support those in her community who most needed help.

When asked what advice she has for high school students applying for the Lilly Scholarship today, Shannon said, “Go for it!” In more ways than she knows, she is certain that the Lilly Scholarship has opened doors for her and helped her to “become the person she’s always wanted to be.” She also loves that the scholarship encourages scholars to give back to their Indiana roots.

To this day, Shannon remains extremely grateful to the Community Foundation and the Lilly Endowment, thanking them for their support throughout her academic journey. She remarked that “anytime you have recognition or some sort of encouragement that what you’re doing is making a difference, it is really motivating.” As a high school senior, she considered the award a call to action to make the most of such an amazing and humbling opportunity; now, she encourages other Monroe County students to do the same. “I’m so proud of all the other Lilly Scholars,” says Shannon. “The Community Foundation does a great job of recognizing students who are working for something bigger than themselves. I’m proud of everyone who applies for it, and it’s always beneficial.”

Alex St. John, daughter of David and Karin St. John, was the captain of the soccer and track-and-field teams at BHSN. She was the co-president of the BHSN chapter of Habitat for Humanity and served on the family selection committee for the Monroe County chapter of the organization. She was also the president of the school’s Hoosiers Outrun Cancer team and a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Arts Honor Society. Alex is a photographer, jewelry designer, interior decorative painter, and a volunteer for a number of organizations, including the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Monroe County Humane Association, and Bloomington Community Kitchen.

“The scholarship makes a huge difference for me and my family,” Alex said. “With my IU tuition covered, I will be able to pursue my eventual goal of attending medical school. It’s such an immense honor because I have always looked up to the Lilly Scholars I’ve met. It means a lot to me that the scholarship was based in part on community service, which has been a high priority for me.”

Evelyn is the daughter of Mark Edward and Mary Clare Bauman was a member of the Sounds of South Advanced Choir, the choir of the St. Paul’s Catholic Center, Theatre South, the BHSS Student Council, and the BHSS volleyball, dance, and tennis teams. She has volunteered as a tutor at Middle Way House, as an assistant for the 8th-grade volleyball team at St. Charles Catholic School, and as the vice president for the Bloomington South Riley Hospital for Children Dance Marathon, among many other service activities. Her academic honors included the AP Scholar Award, National Honor Society, and National Merit Recognition.

“The Lilly Scholarship is something I can be so proud of, because it means I’ve earned my own tuition,” Bauman says. “It feels like such an incredible feat. I’m so glad I did everything I did in high school because it led to this opportunity. I am just a bit shocked and so grateful.”

Bauman is the second person in her family to become a Lilly Scholar – her sister, Lynne, received the award last year.

Mark Strother graduated from Bloomington North High School, ranked among the top students in the class of 2004. He received a prestigious Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship and chose to attend Indiana University, where he continued to flourish in the classroom. Strother enrolled in IU’s highly competitive Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP).  LAMP enabled College of Arts and Sciences students to combine their liberal arts studies with challenging management coursework through the acclaimed Kelley School of Business.

A film major, Strother hoped that the LAMP program could serve as a catalyst for eventual opportunities in the business side of the film industry. However, he acquired a much greater lesson during the fall semester of his sophomore year.

“At first, I had a difficult time with accounting and economics, to the point that I wondered if I could do the LAMP program,” Strother said. “I had always kind of coasted through school, and this made me realize how hard I have to work in college. Rather than working for a grade, you need to get interested in what you can learn.”

Unfortunately for Strother, this “revelation” can sometimes be a double-edged sword.

“When I applied for the Lilly Scholarship, I didn’t know what I wanted to do (major in), so I had a theme of my application essay – That’s what college is about, finding something that you enjoy and are good at,” Strother said. “At first, I think the (Lilly Scholarship) committee was shocked by my essay. I have a wide range of interests and still do. I learned not to rule things out early, explore and find out what you are really passionate about.”Strother has certainly heeded this advice. After starting as a film major, he switched to an environmental management program in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs before transferring back to the College of Arts and Sciences to major in anthropology.

“In order to stay in the LAMP program, I needed to stay in the College of Arts and Sciences,” Strother said. “I looked at all of the course descriptions for all of the majors, and anthropology seemed the most interesting. Like many liberal arts majors, there is a lot of reading, writing papers, and in-class debates. It has been going well.”According to Strother, the desire to broaden your horizon should not be limited to the classroom.

“It’s an interesting dilemma for people from Bloomington who choose to stay in town and go to IU,” Strother said. “It makes it tough to branch out, and I wish that I would have done that more as a freshman. It’s tough to say what exactly they should do, but they need to be open to meeting new people.”

Strother will have just that opportunity when he joins 10 other students for an archaeology field school in Belize during IU’s first summer school session this May and June. For seven weeks, Strother and his classmates will learn basic excavation techniques, site analysis, and GPS mapping on an ancient Mayan site.

Although anthropology is probably not in his immediate career plans, Strother knows that experiences like the Belize trip will pay dividends towards whatever field he ultimately chooses.

“Thanks to Lilly, I have a lot of money saved up, so I may join the Peace Corps or look at jobs abroad,” Strother said. “Eventually, I’d like to go to law school. I don’t have a great desire to be an attorney or even work in a law firm, but I think that a law degree offers a lot of possibilities. As you can tell, I’m someone who keeps his options open.”