Thursday, September 10, 2009 4:47 pm

The scholarship winners, front row from left, are Kara White, Danielle Allen, Alejandro Romo and Lauren Dixon. Back row from left are Michael Hubert, Eddie Eatherly, Jason Reed and Roeshanna Burlison. Not pictured are Kayla Barnes and Natalie Holcomb.

MTEMC’s Customers Care foundation has funded ten $2,000 scholarships for students across the service area.

The winners this year were: Natalie Holcomb from Williamson County; Roeshanna Burlison and Jason Reed from Cannon County; Kayla Barnes, Michael Huber, Alejandro Romo and Kara White from Rutherford County; and Danielle Allen and Lauren Dixon from Wilson County.

Scholarship participants must be an MTEMC member or a child of a member, and they must use the monies to attend a Tennessee 2- or 4-year accredited college or trade school.

Interested persons must fill out an application and complete a one-page essay stating how the scholarship funds would benefit their personal goals. All essays are judged by a group of volunteer school teachers from the MTEMC service area.

“The cooperative’s seven principles include a commitment to education, and we strive to do that by being involved in our school systems,” MTEMC Community Relations Coordinator Cathy Mitchell said. “These scholarships are another way we can add to that effort.”

The scholarship applicants are judged on a point system. Persons are graded on a financial needs assessment, current grade point average, involvement in community service, leadership roles and their score on the personal essay. The applicants with the top point totals were awarded the scholarships.

The scholarships are funded through Operation Round Up monies, which are administered by the Customers Care Board. Operation Round Up began in November 2003 and since that time has distributed more than $3 million into the communities Middle Tennessee Electric serves.