The Lilly Endowment is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by Josiah K. Lilly and his sons. The foundation supports community development, education and elementary and secondary education in Indiana.
The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship provides 147 high school students in Indiana with full-tuition, required fees and book stipend for four years to any accredited public or private nonprofit college or university in Indiana. The scholarship winners become part of the Lilly Scholars Network, which inspires and equips them to make changes in their communities and cultivate meaningful connections.
Senior Savannah Greenbaum was first nominated for the scholarship in September of 2025. After completing writing and interview stages, she submitted a resume, multiple essay response questions, an academic transcript and test scores. She received the award on Dec.16, 2025.
The scholarship is designed to encourage education and careers in Indiana.
“I think people view Indiana as that mundane state that you fly over full of corn and soybeans, but I’ve really enjoyed growing up here,” Greenbaum said. “I would be very glad to continue to stay here in college. The Midwest is wonderful, and Indiana has a lot to offer.”
After graduating from high school, Greenbaum plans to double major in Spanish and biology with a minor in public health at Butler or Indiana University. She describes her experience taking Spanish in high school.
“World language has been my favorite class I’ve taken throughout all of high school,” Greenbaum said. “The Spanish department here is wonderful, and they are just very uplifting and supportive because it is difficult to learn a new language.”
Greenbaum wants to go into pediatric medicine, so she also shadowed at Riley Hospital throughout high school. Besides the medical field, Spanish is also helpful in education, consumer service and business fields.
“Spanish is just so applicable in the medical field,” said Greenbaum. “I do not think people realize just quite how impactful it can be to have legitimate conversation with a patient that’s not aided by a translation device.”
Being bilingual makes people more employable, as employers find the skills needed to learn a language transfer to other aspects of work.
Greenbaum encourages underclassmen to continue taking a world language throughout high school. With the different diploma requirements required for FHS students, only current upperclassmen taking the honors diploma are required to take three years of a world language. The diploma for freshmen and sophomores only requires two to five credits of world history or world language. However, Greenbaum believes learning a world language is important for employability.
“You don’t realize the value and the merit it has until you are a little bit older,” said Greenbaum. “Sometimes you just see it as that one grade that brings down your GPA, but it’s worth it.”
Greenbaum’s advice for students who are applying for scholarships is to be themselves in the interview round and find meaningful ways to engage with their community.
“Sometimes the door just opens randomly,” said Greenbaum. She was handed a paper about the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation board during sophomore year, which enhances educational opportunities and engages the community through events, scholarships and grants.
“Look for ways to be involved in your community,” said Greenbaum. “There are always ways to better a society, so look around you, see a problem that needs to be solved and be the person who says, ‘I can take the lead on this, I can handle it, I can get a team of people together and we can work.’”
