Eight Finalists, Two Scholars, One Exceptional County
The end of 2025 was filled with lots of exciting news at CFMC including Lilly Endowment’s approval of our Lilly scholarship winners. As I was quoted in our press release on Christmas Eve, this year’s eight finalists were all strong candidates, making this selection the most difficult in many years.
We made several revisions to our scholarship process in 2025 aimed at improving the quality of candidates to ensure we were drawing the most academically elite students in Morgan County. After all, Indiana’s Lilly Scholars are the brightest students from across the state. Colleges and universities host Lilly Scholar events on campus so these students can connect and collaborate with one another, so it is imperative that Morgan County represents well in this fellowship. We also wanted to provide more help with the applications, so we hosted three scholarship workshops – one in Martinsville, one in Mooresville, and one in Monrovia, resulting in 120 students participating! We also took a hard look at the demographics of our committee. Our 2025 nine-person committee represented from Eminence, Monrovia, Martinsville, and Mooresville; included two former Lilly Scholars; ranged in age from 23 to 89 years old; and varied in review experience from 1 to 28 years. Lastly, we required all committee members to review all applications (this year 126) as opposed to years’ past when each member only reviewed a batch of 20-30 applications, so only a collective review was performed. And understand, these reviews are blind to the committee, meaning they are not aware of the student’s name.
The result: eight strong finalists who all scored very close to each other and who represented a very balanced view of the county – 2 from Martinsville, 2 from Mooresville, 2 from Monrovia, one from Tabernacle Christian School, and one Morgan County resident who attends Center Grove High School. I cannot say enough that all eight finalists were very strong candidates, each positioned exactly where they should have been when scored against the full pool of applicants. So, congratulations to Mooresville seniors Luke Merkle and Noah Burns, Martinsville seniors Austin DeMeritt and Nico Inman, Monrovia senior Avery Wolfe, and Tabernacle senior Hannah Li! You are all now forever Lilly Scholar finalists, and your hard work, academic excellence, and commitment to your community was noteworthy and exceptional.
But Monrovia senior Aubrie Pierson and Center Grove senior Selia Peters rose to the level of winning the highest honor. These young ladies gave flawless interviews and are both passionate about how they will give back to Indiana, as is a priority of Lilly Endowment.
Aubrie, a Bulldog through and through, has attended Monrovia schools since kindergarten. Her sights are on Butler University or Indiana University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in biology with the end goal of becoming an optometrist. As a first grader, Aubrie began having vision problem and an optometrist discovered a cataract in her left eye. She then started wearing glasses and a patch on her right eye for two years to strengthen the weakness in her left eye. By fourth grade, she started suffering from double vision. An ophthalmologist at Riley Children’s Hospital taught her helpful exercises, using a prism, which she had to perform daily. These experiences made a lasting impact on young Aubrie.
Besides Aubrie’s supportive parents, Aubrie attributes outstanding teachers as meaningful contributors to her growing leadership and confidence that wasn’t always there. Her Communications teacher, Mark Jaynes, no doubt a personal mentor having lost an eye himself in an accident as a 2- year-old, gave Aubrie the opportunity to be a co-anchor for the MHS Happenings show. This experience, along with her decorated cross-country and track and field career, enhanced her confidence in taking leadership roles and in speaking with other people. Aubrie’s unique experiences created an empathy toward those with vision problems and created a passion in her to help others.
For Selia Peters, growing up on her family farm six generations strong in Green Township has shaped her strong sense of family. As a small child, Selia enjoyed showing cattle at the Morgan County Fair, dance lessons, and competitive cheer, all teaching her important lessons of teamwork, leadership, and sportsmanship. But none of these experiences were as impactful as seeing her younger cousin suffer from a rare genetic disorder. From this personal experience and her involvement in her school’s Best Buddies peer support program for students with developmental disabilities, she was drawn to nursing. Her plan is to pursue Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at IU Bloomington, Purdue, or Butler.
The two nights in October when we interview the Lilly finalists is something we look forward to all year, and this year did not disappoint. We will celebrate the finalists, winners, and their families at a dinner in February, and with this group, we have a lot to celebrate.
