Community Foundation Hires Interns

                   Patricia Bacala                       Evan Comer                       Natalie Owens

              Three interns have been hired by the Scott County Community Foundation, funded through a new pilot program from Lilly Endowment. Patricia Bacala, Evan Comer and Natalie Owens have been selected to assist with two special projects at the Foundation. One project is to coordinate a veterans’ pictorial history book being published for Scott County veterans. The second project is to produce a video highlighting accomplishments in Scott County made possible through the Community Foundation, which will be shown at community presentations and events.

              Patricia Bacala is a freshman at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where she is majoring in applied biology. She is a 2010 graduate of Scottsburg High School, and was active in school and the community. She was the secretary of the Scott County Youth Grantmaking Council, a program of the Foundation, and was a lifeguard at the Scott County Family YMCA. Patricia is the daughter of Emmanuel and Bernardita Bacala of Scottsburg. She will be assisting Natalie with the veterans’ pictorial history book.

              “I am so excited to have been given the opportunity to intern at the Community Foundation this summer!” said Patricia. “In high school I was a member of the Youth Grantmaking Council, and from that experience I was able to see the positive impact SCCF has had on our community and am thrilled to be able to continue this. The focus of the internship is the publication of a pictorial history book that will contain the biographies of current local military and veterans. I feel this is a great way to recognize and honor those in our community who do and have done service for our country and provide them with a means to share their stories. I am so looking forward to learning and growing from this experience and cannot wait to begin work as an intern!”

              Evan Comer is a freshman at Butler University, where he is majoring in history and political science. He is a Student Ambassador for the Department of Admissions at Butler and is a volunteer or member of several organizations through school. He is also a 2010 graduate of Scottsburg High School, and was the president of the Scott County Youth Grantmaking Council. Evan is the son of Russ and Bonnie Comer of Scottsburg. He will produce the video.

              “I am very excited to be given this opportunity to work with the Foundation,” said Evan. “All too often kids go off to college and forget about their homes and the communities in which they grew up. Personally, I did not want to become complacent like that. Being allowed to work on the video project will enable me to interact with those currently involved with the various facets of the Community Foundation and create a lasting bond with our great community.”

              Natalie Owens is a freshman at Franklin College, where she is majoring in journalism and is a reporter for the school’s newspaper. She is a 2010 graduate of Madison Consolidated High School, where she was a reporter and editor-in-chief for the school newspaper. She has also previously served as a community relations intern at King’s Daughters’ Hospital in Madison. Natalie is the daughter of Michael and Shelly Owens of Deputy. She will be assisting Patricia with the veterans’ pictorial history book.

              “I feel very blessed to have this opportunity,” said Natalie. “I'm hoping to improve my writing skills and use this internship to gain more writing experience. I think the project will be really interesting. I like meeting new people and writing profile-type pieces is something I really enjoy.”

The Community Foundation Internships (CFI) program is part of Lilly’s goals to help build healthy Indiana community foundations and to provide college students with real-life work experiences.