The Seymour High School Lilly Endowment Scholar of 2023 is Senior Katya Cox. She is a wonderfully optimistic student who strives for the best. Katya is involved in many extracurricular activities at SHS and within the community including: varsity swim , Red Sky Rescue, Varsity Chorale, chamber choir (2 yrs), student government (secretary for class of 2023), SHS Dance Marathon,

Best Buddies (3 yrs), Hope Squad, Key Club (President for 1 yr), National Honor Society, and volunteering at Boys and Girls Club.

Standing out against the many other applicants throughout Jackson County, Katya believed that her essay made the difference. “What made me stand out most was my essay that I wrote. I wrote an amazing essay that I spent months working on. In the essay I opened with the sentence: ´There are 7,128 languages in the world, but the one that is most important, exposed to me through Red Sky Rescue, is love.’ Then I wrote an essay about love and how love is how the dogs knew to snuggle me and how they bloomed, and I’ve connected to all these aspects of my life, and I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t have thought to go so deep in a 250 word essay. I think they read that essay and were like, ´Wow! This kid is next level.´ It showed compassion. I asked amazing people to write my recommendation letters. I asked Mrs. Cottrill and Dennis Bowers, they are two of the best people who wrote about me probably being compassionate and stuff and my essay reinforced that. I think it was a really good mix of things that made me seem more juman rather than just athletics and scholar achievements.”

Katya knows that this scholarship is going to affect her college life and future plans. ¨It was a big relief because my parents weren’t going to help me pay for college so that means I would’ve had to hold a job throughout my college education. I’m going to be in a difficult major of engineering, so I was really worried that between my school and my work that I wouldn’t be doing as well in school, but now I don’t have to worry about that. Now I can elaborate more on my engineering degree, maybe even get a double degree or a minor in something and focus more on being a good student rather than paying off college debt.”

Katya is excited and very grateful for her opportunity to have this scholarship. Through this opportunity, it will enhance her college experience. Congratulations to the Jackson County 2023 Lilly Scholar, Ekaterina Cox. Owls WILL!