By Carson Hall
In Delaware County, 978 seniors were eligible to participate this year in the competition to win a Lilly Scholarship. One winner out of those 978 seniors was Delta High School’s Zachary Baty.
The Lilly is a scholarship that gives a student free tuition for up to four years for any college in the state of Indiana. Only two people are nominated for the Lilly from each school in Delaware County. From those nominees, only two people win the scholarship out of the eight schools in the county.
Zach has an 11.57 grade point average on a 12.0 scale. The GPA is one of the factors in winning the Lilly Scholarship.
Zach was relieved when he found out he won the Lilly Scholarship because he now doesn’t have to pay the college tuition fees that most students have to pay.
He just recently verbally committed to Wabash College on Sunday, Feb. 2.
In addition to pursuing his athletic dream of swimming and diving, he also plans to study neuroscience and become a neurosurgeon.
His parents are Monica Baty, the Regional Director for Indiana Mentor, and Eric Baty, a programmer analyst for the Department of Veteran Affairs.
“They were definitely happy. We all got called into the office and they were already sitting down with the panel of judges,” Zach said. “They were extremely excited about it.”
Zach had to write six essays in one weekend. Most of his essays mainly focused on who he was as a person and who he is as a leader.
“I described myself as hard working and I was motivated to do anything that I needed to do to succeed,” Zach said.
Zach is also involved in sports and band. He is on the swim team, where he has qualified multiple times for the IHSAA State Finals and competes in the 200-meter individual medley, 500 freestyle, 200 medley relay, and the 200 free relay.
Zach started participating in band in sixth grade and played the clarinet at first, but then decided to switch to tenor saxophone in high school.
Zach also has been participating in activities outside of school. He started Scouts when he was just in first grade. Now Zach is on the verge of becoming an Eagle Scout, which has taken him more than 12 years to accomplish.
To become an Eagle Scout Zach had to complete a certain amount of requirements such cooking, camping and emergency preparedness. He also has to complete a big project.
The project is a veterans memorial at Beech Grove Cemetery in Muncie.
He is also a part of many school leadership activities, such as National Honor Society, freshman mentors, freshmen mentor council, Chick-fil-A Leaders, student council (vice president), drum major for the band, marching band, Delta Athletics Fly Team and Indiana Swimming House Of Delegates.
Zach was also grateful for the teachers that helped him all the way through his high school career, but there were two teachers in particular that helped him with the application process.
“Definitely Mrs. Blakely. She wrote my Lilly Scholarship recommendation along with Mr. Oliver, who also wrote one,” Zach said.
Mrs. Blakely is a U.S. History and IVY Tech history teacher. Mr. Oliver is the resource room teacher who helps students with their specialized education plans.
Mrs. Cindy Kunda, Delta’s Director of Early College and Career Counseling, helps students apply for the Lilly and other scholarships.
“So when it comes down to it all Zach Baty is just highly deserving of it because of how well rounded he is in every area,” Mrs. Kunda said.
