Wright-Hennepin Awards $43,000 in Scholarships to Local Students

Contact: Lauren Dublin
Phone: (763) 477- 3111
Email: ldublin@whe.org

Rockford, Minn. (June 16, 2025) — Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association (WH) awarded $43,000 in scholarships to 25 local students. WH has awarded more than $874,450 to local students since the scholarship program began in 1988. Scholarships are made possible with funding from unclaimed capital credits and contributions from diversified businesses under WH Holding, which provides the legal structure for the cooperative’s non-electric diversified businesses. This allows WH to award these scholarships without impacting members’ electric rates.

WH Local School Scholarship
WH provides one scholarship to 19 high schools in its electric service area to award to an outstanding student pursuing higher education. The scholarship winners are selected by the school themselves. WH also offers one "at-large" scholarship for students who live within WH’s service area but do not attend one of the local schools. The following recipients received a WH local school scholarship this year:

• Avery Seagraves, Annandale High School
• Cecily Holmberg, Buffalo High School
• Joanne Luhman, Dassel-Cokato High School
• Edward Lins, Delano High School
• Jonah Moulton, Heritage Christian Academy
• Chloe Kieser, Howard Lake -Waverly -Winsted High School
• Virginia Shuler, Maple Grove High School
• Ashley Gaffaney, Maple Lake High School
• Grace Curtis, Monticello High School
• Miller Williams, Orono High School
• Annette Guse, Osseo Senior High School
• Grant Tenhaeff, Parnassus Preparatory School
• Ruby Gifford, Rockford High School
• Jeremiah Rugroden, Rogers High School
• Reagan Cocking, St. Michael – Albertville Senior High School
• Claire Harrison, Terra Nova School
• Elizabeth Metcalf, Watertown-Mayer High School
• Vidhi Patel, Wayzata High School
• Elizabeth Cassady, Wright Technical Center
• Nicholas Sargent, Providence Academy (at-large scholarship)

Edward R. Slebiska Memorial Lineworker Scholarship
Each year, the Edward R. Slebiska Scholarship is awarded in the name of the cooperative’s first CEO to individuals pursuing a career as electric lineworkers. During his time as CEO, Slebiska helped the cooperative bring reliable and affordable electricity to rural Wright County and western Hennepin County. The recipients of the 2025 Edward R. Slebiska Memorial Lineworker Scholarship are:

• Colby Dircks, Annandale High School
• Will Spielmann, Annandale High School
• Jakob Hanson, Maple Lake High School

WH Security Scholarship
New this year, WH Security is offering one scholarship to Minnesota individuals pursuing education and training in fields relevant to technology systems work. The recipient of the 2025 WH Security Scholarship is:

• Paul Haapala, Buffalo High School

Basin Electric Scholarship
Basin Electric Power Cooperative annually awards a scholarship to its distribution cooperative members. Basin is one of WH’s wholesale power suppliers, and is headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. The recipient of this year’s Basin Electric Scholarship is:

• Adelyn Fiecke, Delano High School

Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric utility that provides power to rural Wright County and western Hennepin County. The cooperative has been a corporate citizen to the area since 1937 and currently serves more than 59,000 electric accounts. It is headquartered in Rockford, Minn.

WH’s 2025 scholarship winners were invited to a banquet at the cooperative’s Rockford headquarters June 10, 2025.