Electric Co-ops Award More Than $60,000 in Scholarships
The Education Scholarship Foundation of the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives today announced that it has awarded more than $60,000 in college scholarships to deserving students for the 2019-2020 school year.
The recipients are students whose parents live in areas served by electric cooperatives in the three states.
“We commend these students on their outstanding achievements,” said Robbie F. Marchant, chair of the VMDAEC Education Scholarship Foundation Committee and a director at Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative. “The electric co-ops support them as they pursue their education and then we hope they return to their communities to do great work.”
The Foundation awarded Worth Hudson Scholarships of $1,000 each to 58 students. They are named in honor of Worth Hudson, the first chairman of the VMDAEC Education Scholarship Foundation and former chairman of the board of directors of Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative in Chase City, Va.
The Foundation also approved two co-op-specific scholarships. The Gertrude Winston Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 was awarded to a student in the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative service territory. It was established in memory of the mother of long-time REC board member Richard Oliver.
The C.D Hypes Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1,500 was awarded to a student in the Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative service territory. Hypes was an educator and director at Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative in New Castle, Va.
Since 2001, the Foundation has provided almost 700 scholarships totaling more than $500,000 to aspiring college students as well as to the next generation of electric linemen.
“Electric cooperatives have a long commitment to supporting education as a way of fostering the quality of life in the communities that they serve,” said Richard G. Johnstone Jr., president and CEO of the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives. “We’re extremely proud to be able to help our member cooperatives’ youth further their education.”
Scholarship recipients are chosen based on a competitive screening process that considers financial need (40 percent), academic achievement (40 percent) and community involvement and personal history (20 percent). Applicants must be a senior graduating from either high school or home-school in 2019.
They must also provide evidence of their acceptance into a post-high school educational institution or program. These grants can be used to pay for tuition, fees and books.
The Foundation is funded through tax-deductible donations and bequests from individuals, proceeds from benefit fundraising events and CoBank’s Sharing Success Program.
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Headquartered in Glen Allen, Va., the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives provides safety and training, communications and legislative services to 15 electric cooperatives serving the three-state Mid-Atlantic region. For more information on VMDAEC and the lineman’s rodeo, visit www.vmdaec.com or www.co-opliving.com.