While Christopher O'Hara hasn't decided which Indiana college he will attend, he won't have to worry about paying the tuition.
Friday morning at Warsaw Community High School, Christopher, the son of Gene and Jenny O'Hara, found out he was named a recipient of a four-year, full-tuition scholarship as a Kosciusko County Community Foundation 2011 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar.
O'Hara, and Whitko High School senior Gayle Peters, will receive full tuition to the Indiana colleges of their choice and $800 yearly stipends for required books and equipment. Peters' announcement was made Wednesday afternoon at Whitko.
O'Hara, a senior, plans to study computer science. He is ranked eighth out of 438 students in his graduating class, with a grade point average of 12.92 on a 12-point scale.
He contributed more than 100 hours of community service with various charitable organizations and projects.
His school and extracurricular activities included National Honor Society, four years of basketball, four years of baseball, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, A-Team, Tiger Student Athletic Board, four years of marching band and four years of concert band.
His work experience included information technology services, lawn service and auto detailing.
O'Hara's references described him as "selfless," "diligent", "intelligent", "exemplary", "committed" and "devoted."
The Kosciusko County Community Foundation uses a "blind" application review process in which the names of applicants are removed from applications before they are reviewed by the scholarship committee. Applications were scored based on academics, extracurricular involvement, employment history, community service, essay response and references.
Peters and O'Hara were the two top-ranked applicants after the scoring process was complete, according to a Kosciusko County Community Foundation press release. The KCCF forwarded recommended recipients to Independent Colleges of Indiana for review and ICI selected Peters and O'Hara as recipients.ICI is a non-profit corporation that represents 31 regionally accredited degree-granting, non-profit, private colleges and universities in Indiana.
The scholarships are the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education.
Since 1968, the KCCF has brought caring people and charitable endeavors together for the good of the community. The Foundation is a public charity, and gifts made to the Foundation are tax deductible.
For more information about the KCCF, visit its website at www.kcfoundation.org, call 574-267-1901 or visit the office at 102 E. Market St., Warsaw.
