Scholarships
With college on the minds of many high school seniors, Wright-Hennepin (WH) is awarding 20 scholarships in the spring of 2010 to help local students continue their education. Combined, the scholarships are worth $27,700. This includes local school scholarships, the Elwyn and Hazel Knickerbocker memorial line worker scholarship, two Edward R. Slebiska line worker scholarships and a Basin Electric scholarship.
Local Schools Scholarships:
WH has awarded nearly $460,000 to high school seniors through this scholarship program since 1988.
In the past, the money for the scholarship fund came from unclaimed capital credits. This year’s scholarships are made possible thanks to a donation from WH’s non-electric diversified businesses. By doing this, the investment in our education program does not have to be funded through member’s electric rates.
The cooperative is awarding one scholarship to students at each of the following public schools in WH's service territory: Annandale, Buffalo, Dassel-Cokato, Delano, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Maple Grove, Maple Lake, Monticello, Orono, Osseo, Rockford, Rogers, St. Michael-Albertville, Watertown-Mayer and Wayzata. WH also offers one "at-large" scholarships to students from a school that neighbors WH's service territory or is a private school within the cooperative's service territory. Each school listed has its own deadline. "At-large" application deadline is March 31.
Edward R. Slebiska Memorial Line Worker Scholarship:
Line workers make up a large percentage of Wright-Hennepin’s work force and are an important asset to the cooperative and local communities. That is why we offer two scholarships for this trade. The scholarships are given in memory of Ed Slebiska who co-founded the cooperative in 1937 and became its first CEO, holding that position until his retirement in 1975. During that time, Slebiska helped lead Wright-Hennepin in bringing reliable and accessible electricity to rural portions of Wright County and western Hennepin County. Application Deadline: April 25.
Elwyn and Hazel Knickerbocker Memorial Line Worker Scholarship:
This scholarship was created to honor the memory of Elwyn and Hazel Knickerbocker, who both played a crucial role in bringing electricity to rural homes and farms in Wright and Hennepin counties. Elwyn was a Wright-Hennepin pioneer and served on the Board of directors, representing district 1 near Annandale, Clearwater and Maple Lake for 53 years. At that time, he was the longest serving electric cooperative director in the nation. Application Deadline: April 25.
Basin Electric Scholarships:
Basin Electric Power Cooperative, headquartered in Bismarch, ND, one of Wright-Hennepin’s wholesale power suppliers, annually awards scholarships to its distribution cooperatives’ members, and dependents of employees who work at those cooperatives.
Scholarship applications must be filled out completely and returned with any additional criteria. Local scholarship applications can be returned to your school counselor by your school’s due date. At-large, Basin, and line worker scholarship applicants should return their application to Wright-Hennepin by February 15, 2010.