2022 Scholarships and Youth Tour Applications Due January 7

Children of Benton REA members whose main residence is in Benton, Yakima or Lewis counties may apply for the co-op’s 2022 continuing education scholarships and the Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.

Funds for Benton REA’s scholarships, youth tour and other education programs come from members’ unclaimed ownership credits.

Applications are due January 7, 2022, and available at www.BentonREA.org/youth. 

Graduating High School Seniors: $8,000 Academic Scholarships

Five $8,000 scholarships are available to students planning to enroll in a four-year, postsecondary education. The scholarship will be distributed directly to the school in increments of $2,000 per year. Students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to maintain the scholarship.

Graduating High School Seniors: $4,000 Trade and Technical Scholarships

Two $4,000 scholarships are available to students pursuing a trade and planning to enroll at a community college, trade school or university. Examples of eligible certification and associate of applied science programs include but
are not limited to: automotive, electrical lineworker, paramedic, computer-aided drafting, nursing, pharmacy technician and welding.

Sophomores and Juniors: Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.

Benton REA will select two students to represent the cooperative on an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., June 18-24, 2022.

Tyler Slade and Emily Bonus represented Benton REA on the 2017 Youth Tour.

“The Youth Tour was an amazing experience,” Tyler says. “I made friends from across the U.S. that I still keep in touch with today.”

Emily’s most memorable part of the tour was the opportunity to spend significant time at many important places.

“We saw national monuments, the Smithsonians, many historical sites and more,” she says. “We were just there to take it all in. It was so neat to have time to do nothing else but experience history.”

Today Tyler is an engineer for Energy Northwest at Columbia Generating Station. He graduated in May 2021 from Washington State University with his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He is pursuing a Master of Business Administration from Louisiana State University. He enjoys rock climbing, sky diving, learning to fly and traveling.

Emily is a junior at Liberty University, studying applied mathematics and statistics with the goal of becoming a biostatistician.

“If you are on the fence about applying, just take the jump and apply,” Emily says. “This is an experience you don’t want to regret not trying for.”