published: Friday, February 01, 2013

Glades Electric Educational Foundation increase scholarship amounts

Special to the News-Sun

Glades Electric Educational Foundation is gearing up for "scholarship season" by increasing the dollar amount awarded to each county in their service territory. The scholarships are awarded to GEC members' children who are high school seniors and have upheld academic excellence. Previously, each of GEC's service counties received a $4,000.00 and $2,000.00 scholarship. However, the Board of Trustees of Glades Electric recently approved an increase, so each county will receive two $4,000 scholarships.

"There are so many hard-working and deserving young people in our communities, many of whose aspirations just need a little boost. One of Glades Electric's operating principles, Concern for Community, compels us to continue and even increase our investment in our area's youth. We want to show them there are people and organizations in their own home towns willing to help them succeed," said Glades Electric's board president Jack Coxe.

"The student's academic achievement, leadership involvement, and extra-curricular activities are among some of the variables taken into consideration. The decision seems to grow more difficult each year as the number of applicants continue to rise. This is a wonderful testament to the hard work of our area's school administrators, staff, and teachers in encouraging more students to seek higher education," said Jennifer Manning, CFO of Glades Electric.

To set the stage; prior to 2000, Florida mandated that a cooperative's unclaimed capital credits had to be surrendered for use in the State's General Fund. In an effort to preserve these funds for the benefit of their members, electric cooperatives throughout the state successfully convinced the legislature to allow them to retain the unclaimed credits and invest them as they saw fit. The Board of Trustees of Glades Electric Cooperative chose to invest these funds in the future of the communities they represent. The board determined that rewarding the efforts of our area's hard-working, achievement oriented young people via college scholarships was a great way to foster bright, innovative future leadership in our communities. It was out of the trustee's forward thinking that the Glades Electric Educational Foundation was established. To date, the Foundation has awarded $224,000 toward the education of our communities' young people. It is important to note that the scholarships administered by the foundation are funded solely from these unclaimed capital credits and do not cost the membership a penny.

Students can pick up an application from their school office, a GEC office, or download an application from www.gladesec.com.