The fanfare of graduation and all the “lasts” associated with being a high school senior are now a distant memory for these recent high school graduates. Rachel Kuhn, Shaylee Volz and Ben Wolf are all off to college this fall, beginning new chapters in their lives that Southeastern Indiana REMC is happy to be a part of. 

SEIREMC announced a change in its scholarship program for 2021, and high school seniors were encouraged to complete a simple online application for a chance to win one of three $500 college scholarships. The drawing took place during the cooperative’s 2021 annual meeting and Rachel, Shaylee and Ben were selected as the lucky recipients.

As they wrapped up their summer activities and began preparing for their college careers to begin, we sat down with all three scholarship recipients to talk about the impact the REMC has had on their families’ lives through the years. While they may not have been aware of every resource or program that the cooperative has to offer, one message came through loud and clear.

High speed internet service is not just a luxury; it is an essential service that is needed in southeast Indiana. 

As young adults are choosing career paths and making decisions about where they want to live and work after college, they are thinking about whether or not access to high-speed internet is available in those areas and how that would affect their quality of life. These young adults are the future of our co-op, and we want to see them choose to live and work in southeast Indiana. That’s why SEIREMC is actively building out a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project across its seven-county service area. 

We appreciate the insight that these three students shared with us, and the opportunity to help them achieve their academic goals through the REMC scholarship program.