HEA provides scholarship funding

Homer Electric Association, in conjunction with Touchstone Energy, a national alliance of member-owned electric cooperatives, has provided scholarship funding for Project GRAD Kenai Peninsula.

Touchstone Energy provided a $1,073 grant and HEA gave $500. The funds will be used to support a scholarship program for students who successfully complete the Project GRAD curriculum and go on to college.

Project GRAD is designed to provide staff development, increase graduation rates and prepare students for college. Schools targeted for the initial phase included Nanwalek, Port Graham, Nikolaevsk, Ninilchik, Razdolna, Tyonek and Voznesenka.

HEA has worked together with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District on several projects. In 1999, they provided high-speed Internet capabilities to district schools via HEA fiber optic line and this fall HEA helped make available to all middle schools in the district Touchstone Energy's educational curriculum, "Get Charged!"

The kits, designed for Touchstone Energy by the Discovery Channel School, provide students with an understanding of electricity and the role electric cooperatives play in the distribution of electric power throughout the country.