Bulldog Ready Scholarship Established at BCEF

Starting in 2026, the scholarship will be available to Batesville High School seniors.

(Batesville, Ind.) - A new scholarship to benefit Batesville High School (BHS) graduates will be offered by the Batesville Community Education Foundation (BCEF) beginning in 2026, thanks to the efforts of students at the Batesville Intermediate School (BIS). The Bulldog Ready Attribute Scholarship will be awarded to seniors who exemplify the seven key attributes associated with the Batesville Community School Corporation (BCSC)’s new community-connected educational model.

Earlier this year, Dana Cassidy, BIS principal, and Karen Kaiser, BIS Media Center, provided the BCEF board with information about the annual school-sponsored Chalk the Walk event, for which BIS students raise money by obtaining financial pledges. In years past, the proceeds were donated to a global cause.

“Since the Bulldog Ready initiative has launched, BIS wanted to tie this event to that corporation-wide programming,” Cassidy said. “To keep the scholarship funded, each year the school will donate the event’s net proceeds to BCEF for the Bulldog Ready Attribute Scholarship to be awarded to graduating BHS students.”

While the exact criteria for this scholarship are yet to be determined, BIS administration and students will work with BCEF to develop the guidelines and provide input on the scholarship winner(s). The seven Bulldog Ready attributes—confidence, integrity, authenticity, drive, empathy, resilience, and leadership—will play a major role in the scholarship selection results.

“As this scholarship continues year after year, eventually we will reach a point where the seniors who are recipients will have been a part of raising the money when they were at BIS, bringing the process full circle,” Kaiser added. “They will see how paying it forward impacts others, showing them what community-connected education means in a very personal way.”

To learn more about the Bulldog Ready programming or attributes, visit the BCSC website at https://batesvilleinschools.com/bulldog-ready/. BCEF provides a variety of programs to the Batesville public schools, such as grants, scholarships, and large capital projects. Additional information is available at https://batesvilleeducationfoundation.org/.