Lillis Scholarships Awarded to Two Exceptional First-year Students

TACOMA, Wash. – the University of Puget Sound is proud to announce that Gabrielle Kolb, of Saint Cloud, Minn., and Kara Lamar, of Fountain Valley, Calif., have been selected as the national liberal arts college’s two new Lillis Scholars for the incoming Class of 2019 this fall.

The Lillis Scholarship is the most prestigious award offered by Puget Sound for students who demonstrate exceptional academics and scholarship promise. The annual awards are funded by a generous gift from Gwendolyn H. Lillis P’05, and Charles M. Lillis P’05 made through The Lillis Foundation to Puget Sound’s One [of a Kind] comprehensive campaign, which recently concluded, raising $131.6 million. The highly competitive scholarship covers all tuition and fees, including room and board, for up to four years.          

Lillis Scholars are chosen for their singular academic performance, passionate interest in ideas, intellectual independence, and drive to pursue excellence throughout college and their careers.  

Finalists are selected from a pool of about 5,500 applicants to Puget Sound each year. Kolb and Lamar will become part of a cohort of 16 Lillis Scholars named since the program began making awards in 2008.

 

Gabrielle Kolb (Saint Cloud, Minn.)

Kolb, whose talents run from athletics to languages to writing, attended Saint John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville, Minn., where she was an International Baccalaureate diploma candidate. She was awarded a silver medal for the National Spanish Exam.

Kolb’s enthusiasm and skill in sport led her to be chosen as her school’s varsity captain for both soccer and track and field. Her 800-meter relay team secured three school records. A keen writer, who shares her skill by helping other students at the school’s writing center, was president of the National Honor Society and editor in chief of the yearbook. She also was active in her school theater group.

Inspired by her father’s military service, Kolb is committed to community service through her school and her parish. She was the founder and president of a local branch of She are the First, a national organization to raise awareness and funds for girls’ education in the developing world. She raised more than $4,000 for the group through bake sales, community awareness events, and a fun run.

Kolb is an accomplished outdoorswoman and has spent more than 100 days backpacking and canoeing in the United States and Canada's wilderness areas.

In her Lillis Scholarship essay, Kolb wrote about determinism and indeterminism, reflecting on the concepts’ implications for free will and the power of individual action. She recognizes the impact that her own thoughts and actions can have on her future and others' futures and says she hopes to create positive change in the world. Kolb is interested in studying International Political Economy at Puget Sound.

 

Kara Lamar (Fountain Valley, Calif.)

Lamar, a gifted musician and Science Olympiad competitor, attended Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana, Calif., where she took 10 AP classes. She has been named an AP Scholar with Distinction and a National Merit Commended Scholar.

Lamar plays clarinet with the Frederick Fennell Wind Ensemble, a competitive clarinet group, and an award-winning, nationally recognized pit orchestra. She participated in Science Olympiad—a tournament involving topics such as genetics, earth science, anatomy, physics, and technology—in regional school competitions. Her Science Olympiad team was the only one in the region at an art school (and, during breaks, they used beakers and flasks to create a “xylophone of science!” she wrote). Lamar values having both art and science in her life, which, she says, “combine to create grand adventures.”

In her Lillis Scholarship essay, Lamar described her personal guiding principle: “If you cannot argue the side of what you are fighting against, you cannot truly believe in what you are fighting for.” She calls this philosophy “intellectual empathy” and uses it to discover and confirm her own beliefs. Lamar notes that intellectual empathy is “linked to our sense of right and wrong,” which is key in maintaining our humanity and understanding others.

Lamar was president of her school’s Spanish Honor Society and was a leadership award winner in the Girl Scouts. At Puget Sound, she would like to study mathematics and languages. The first-generation college student will join the Honors Program.

About the Lillis Scholar Program

The Lillis Scholar Program was established in 2007 through a generous gift made by The Lillis Foundation of Castle Rock, Colo., to recognize academic excellence and encourage intellectual independence. Gwen Lillis is chair of The Lillis Foundation, vice-chair of University of Puget Sound’s board of trustees, and chair of the Board of Advisors at Lundquist College of Business, University of Oregon. Charles Lillis is the former chair and chief executive of MediaOne, founding partner of LoneTree Capital Management, and chair of the board of trustees at the University of Oregon. The Lillies are the parents of Puget Sound alumna Jessica Baker Isaacs ’05. Each year two Lillis Scholars are selected from the incoming class.

For information about eligibility for the Lillis Scholar Program, contact the Office of Admission at 800.396.7191 or visit pugetsound.edu/scholarships.

Press photos of the Lillis Scholars are available upon request.

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