Coastal Electric members fund $30,000 in scholarships to local students

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive mem­bers are help­ing six local stu­dents pur­sue their dreams by way of $30,000 in schol­ar­ships.

Recent grad­u­ates Emma Beasley (Lib­er­ty Coun­ty High School), Made­line Ike (First Prepara­to­ry Chris­t­ian Acad­e­my), Austin Rowe (McIn­tosh Coun­ty Acad­e­my), Samuel Mon­tone (home-schooled), and Jolie Clau­dio and Ella Snider (Rich­mond Hill High School) each earned $5,000 Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Foun­da­tion schol­ar­ships for their first semes­ter of col­lege. Each schol­ar­ship is renew­able for up to four years for a total of $20,000.

Pri­ma­ry fund­ing for Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Foun­da­tion schol­ar­ships comes from Oper­a­tion Round Up, a vol­un­tary pro­gram in which Coastal Elec­tric mem­bers allow their elec­tric bills to be round­ed up to the next whole dol­lar each month. That spare change is invest­ed back into the com­mu­ni­ty through the foun­da­tion to help meet food, health, safe­ty, edu­ca­tion and shel­ter needs of cit­i­zens in Bryan, Lib­er­ty, Long and McIn­tosh coun­ties.

In addi­tion, Rich­mond Hill High grad­u­ate Hayes Valen­tine com­pet­ed with stu­dents across Geor­gia to win a $1,000 Wal­ter Har­ri­son Schol­ar­ship, named for the late Wal­ter Har­ri­son of Millen, who was known for his pio­neer­ing efforts in the elec­tric coop­er­a­tive indus­try and life­long ded­i­ca­tion to improv­ing life in rur­al areas.