For the fourth straight year, Hoosier Energy member cooperatives have raised the bar for awarding local students with college scholarship money.
In 2025, a total of 99 students received $101,000 in scholarships, surpassing last year’s 95 students and $95,000. If you add in Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative’s Jake Wiseman, who was awarded $2,500 via the Illinois Electric Cooperatives’ Thomas H. Moore Memorial Scholarship, the numbers grow even higher.
Many, but not all, of these scholarships are a result of Operation Round Up, a program that allows members to voluntarily round up their monthly electric bills to the next dollar. The extra change is pooled together and used to support various charitable, educational, community and youth-related programs or events.
Here is a rundown of the 2025 scholarship winners:
Bartholomew County REMC awarded a pair of $1,500 scholarships. Those went to IU Columbus nursing student Caitlyn Smith (Columbus East) and homeschool graduate Ruth Beck, who will study nursing at Ivy Tech. The annual Alex Barkes Memorial Scholarship of $5,000 went to Hauser’s Hallie Steele, who will major in Elementary Education at the University of Indianapolis.
A total of 20 scholarships were awarded by Clark County REMC this year, highlighted by the Cindy Hockensmith Memorial Scholarship of $2,500 to Jeffersonville’s Kaya Arnold, who will attend Purdue and study Pre-Vet Animal Science.
The rest of Clark County’s scholarships were $1,000 each. Attending Ivy Tech are Sarah Mulumba and Audrey Wilson of Henryville; Joanna Mattingly and Violet Higdon of New Washington; Kenra Sheehan, Nicholas Spencer and Susan Hart of Charlestown; Landon Perkins of Rock Creek; and Allie Arvin of Eastern.
Attending Indiana University Southeast are Trevor Rothbauer and Josiah Richardson of Charlestown; Cameron Kirtley and Ethan Sparks of Silver Creek; Jacob Evaldi of New Albany, Peyton Kruer of Floyd Central; Addison Russell-Stewart of Henryville; and Tyler Barnett of Providence.
Attending Purdue Polytechnic are Zachary Yost of Silver Creek and Luke Lozier of Jeffersonville.
Decatur County REMC awarded a trio of $1,000 scholarships at its annual meeting. They went to Elaina Weber of Greensburg, IU student Gabriel Maloney and South Decatur’s Kereaghan Boggs.
Six scholarships of $1,500 each were awarded by Harrison REMC. Winners were Isabella Wise of Lanesville, Nolan Erwin of Corydon Central, Roy Marsh III of South Central, Jace Martin of North Harrison, Blake Townsend of Floyd Central and homeschooler Jadyn Price.
At Henry County REMC, six scholarships of $1,000 apiece were given to students. Winners were Gehrig Fredenburg of Tri, Travis Louks and Vance Toth of Knightstown, Audrey Wooldridge-Jacobi of Eastern Hancock, Leila Reef of Pendleton Heights and Sylvie Terrell of New Castle.
Three $1,000 senior scholarships and a first-time $1,000 lineman scholarship were awarded by Jackson County REMC. Senior winners were Isaac Jahn of Bedford North Lawrence, Emma Smith of Austin and Ava Woods of West Washington. The lineman winner was Jackson Brough of Salem.
Six Operation Round Up scholarship winners of $750 each were announced by Orange County REMC. They were Anna Sowders of Mitchell, Elle Strother of West Washington, Coy Busick of Paoli and the trio of Sophie Harris, Carson Brown and Evan Brown from Springs Valley.
RushShelby Energy announced Whitney Dellinger of Shelbyville (Purdue) and Garrett Shaw of Eastern Hancock (Ball State) as $2,000 scholarship winners. Additional $2,000 scholarship winners in the Operation Round Up Luck of the Draw at the annual meeting were Rachel McDonald, Isabella Wilson, Kaitlin Bramlett and Conner Evans.
There were six winners of the $1,000 John D. Rudd Memorial Scholarships from South Central Indiana REMC. They were Samiya Turner of Decatur Central (Marian), Marina Hiple (Oregon) and Jake Mayer (Indiana) of Bloomington North, Nathan Cottongim of Greenwood Christian (Indiana State), Drake Hoffa of Cloverdale (Vincennes) and Braeden Daggy of Mooresville (Franklin).
Southeastern Indiana REMC awarded three $500 scholarships to graduating seniors going into post-secondary education. The winners were Isabel Pearson of South Dearborn, Isabel Raab of Batesville and Toby Stevens, a homeschool student from Moores Hill.
The six $500 scholarship winners from Southern Indiana Power are all current college students. They are Madelynne Elmer, Jaclynn Etienne, Carson Guillame and Adam Wilhelmus at Western Kentucky; Elliot Rahman at Southern Illinois; and Mia Waninger at Southern Indiana.
The winners by drawing of the $500 scholarships at Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative were Callie Bunting, Emmy Gearing and Owen Grimes of Edwards County; Riley Isaacs and Collin Jones of Fairfield; Josie Greenwald, Rainey Loker and Haley Shelton of Wayne City; Mabe Attebury of Carme-White; and Aubrey Stover of Hamilton County.
Whitewater Valley REMC announced 10 scholarship winners of $750 during its annual meeting. The winners were Avery Schmitz, Autumn Cantrell, Benjamin Bryant, Emma Ludwig, Glory Ellis, Jaymi Hensley, Margaret Riffle, Oliver Webb, Stacey Glunt and Zoe Meek.
Finally, there were 10 scholarship recipients from WIN Energy REMC of $1,000 each. Winners were Heidi Breidenbaugh of Princeton; Emma Couch and Kendall Samm of Sullivan; Eliza Dellinger of South Knox; Elexus Frey of Vincennes Rivet; Brady Hauer of Clay City; Katelyn Jones of Vincennes Lincoln; and Clarey Holscher, Brooklyn Sturgeon and Hadley Williams of North Knox.