VEA awards 4 students with scholarships

Valley Electric Association, Inc. helped out a few hardworking high school seniors with financial help for the next step in their educational lives.

Following an extensive review of submitted applications, VEA chose four students to receive scholarships in two different categories.

Two full-time academic scholarships of $1,000 annually for four years were given out to Andrea Melgar, who will be attending Pennsylvania State University and Hanna Mason, who will attend the University of Nevada, Reno, while a pair of full-time vocational/technical scholarships of $1,000 per year for two years were given to Alisha Finn, who will attend Le Cordon Bleu and Skylee Memmott, who is still finalizing her academic plans.

Finn graduated from Sandy Valley High, and the other three graduated from Pahrump Valley High.

All applicants had to be children of certified VEA members, and were selected based on the correct completion of the application, scholastic achievement, extracurricular and service activities, letters of recommendation and the typewritten essays required in the scholarship application.

The essay topics included, why the student selected their field of study and occupation, what steps have they have taken to reach the goal and explaining the significance of the cooperative business model, how it is valuable to their community today and how it could be used for a future need in the area.

Melgar is going to major in business marketing at PSU, and wants to work in the business world in some facet when she graduates college. She excited about her next step in life, and is grateful for the financial assistance that the VEA scholarship will provide.

“It will definitely mean a lot, since it’s a renewable scholarship,” Melgar said. “The will help more that the typical scholarship where you get it for your first year and as the other years come by you’re out of luck. So it will help a lot.”

Mason will major in engineering while at UNR, with her ultimate career goal being to work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She explained that the scholarship will help her be in better financial standing once she concludes her collegiate career.

“It’s going to help keep out a lot of stress for finding finances for college,” Mason said. “It’s going to definitely help me pay for it, and after college I will have less debt to pay off.”

VEA Community Relations Representative Cassandra Selbach explained the scholarship awards are one of the various events that the cooperative holds to benefit education each year.

“Throughout the year, VEA hosts a variety of community programs supporting education across its service territory,” Selbach said. “Our scholarship program remains a popular opportunity for VEA’s members and their children to pursue their education and career goals, and we received many impressive applications this year. We look forward to providing local students with valuable support for many years to come.”

VEA has distributed annual scholarships since 2008, totaling $35,300, with all members and individuals whose parents or legal guardians are VEA members eligible to apply.