The month of May is scholarship season here at the Community Foundation. This is when the hard work put in by Morgan County students and CFMC staff comes together, resulting in excitement and joy of presenting the awards. I am pleased to report that 2026 yielded more applicants and higher quality applications than any other year in the history of the foundation, and we are awarding a record number of scholarships – 87 in all and more than $175,000!
Our Director of Programs is the capable and driven Michelle Keller. She has spent the better part of a year examining the efficiency of our processes, the quality of our application, and expanding the use of our software system. She has spent endless hours building relationships with applicants and our scholarship fund advisors. Relationship building is paramount to our business, and no one does it better than Michelle. I could not be prouder of the service we now offer students, schools, and donors alike. From scholarship workshops to donor presentations, Michelle keeps the pendulum of information flowing between these critical players. Way to go, Michelle!
Our scholarships funds are a result of generous individual donors and organizations such as Mooresville Kiwanis, Martinsville Rotary, and Porch Time. I was contacted last summer by a Martinsville alumnus class of 1965. He and his wife had lived away from Indiana for many years but desired to give back to their beloved alma mater where they met, fell in love, and prospered thereafter. After many phone discussions, and a lovely in person meeting which included a nostalgic tour of our impressive, renovated town square, we pinned a scholarship fund agreement that would award $10,000 annually to a deserving, outstanding Martinsville High School senior. Thank goodness for these donors. Their scholarship will be awarded to one of this year’s outstanding Lilly finalists who missed that prestigious honor merely by a few points.
Here is a recap of the awards by school – 15 Monrovia seniors were awarded $27,500; 3 awards went to Indian Creek students totaling $10,600; $79,000 to 45 Martinsville students; $50,700 to 22 Mooresville seniors, $6,000 to one Mooresville Christian student, and $2,000 to a Morgan County student attending Center Grove. 29 of our scholarships are evaluated by the donors themselves, and CFMC’s scholarship committee of 9 volunteers evaluates the applicants that qualify for our other 15 scholarship.
The students are not the only ones impressing us. Just last month, Mooresville High School received their Early College High School accreditation through the Center for Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) at UIndy. Students now have the opportunity to earn the Indiana College Core which is 30 college credits earned during high school that transfer to any Indiana college or university. This is the equivalent to a typical first year of college which can be quite a savings to families and student. An Early College high school identifies a group of students who need additional support to seek higher education after graduation. These students typically are the first in their families to attend college and need additional guidance and oversight in order to earn the appropriate credits during high school. This program is designed to bring more opportunities to students who may not otherwise be able to afford to go. With the graduation rate of nearly 99%, this will propel these Mooresville High School seniors even further, setting them up for success no matter what they choose to do.
Principal Wes Upton shared this exciting news last week at the second quarterly meeting of Pioneer Partners. Meeting at MHS’s new Agriscience and Construction Trades Building, this facility offers more than farming and construction classes. We toured a food science class in progress where students were examining nutritional properties of bread (YUM!), horticulture classes, and even met a 28-year-old African tortoise who “winters” at the facility. The student presenter explained how agriscience
spans a broad range of scientific disciplines, integrating traditional agricultural knowledge with modern technology and environmental sciences. There is a little bit of everything there, and in a nearby building, a Junior ROTC program gathers for a wide variety of disciplines, including color guard training and even etiquette classes!
Upton’s enthusiasm for his school, students, and staff sets an enthusiastic tone and culture of caring every day. Perhaps that is why there was only one physical altercation at the high school last year. With a student population of 1,300, this is quite the contemporary accomplishment! With opportunities like these, I am not surprised CFMC is seeing an increase in the number and quality of our scholarship applications. Also not a surprise is many of the transfers to Mooresville High come from Center Grove and Plainfield. Morgan County has a lot to offer when it comes to education. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
