Are you currently enrolled or planning to attend an Electrician Program, Powerline Program or Telecommunications Program?

APPLY NOW!

Students currently enrolled or planning to attend a
Qualified Program (listed below), submit applications
and postmark by March 8, 2024.

QUALIFIED PROGRAMS INCLUDE:

  • Electrical Utilities & Substation Technology
  • Power Line Construction & Maintenance
  • Utilities Technology-Heating & Cooling
  • Utilities Technology-Power Line
  • Electrical Construction & Maintenance
  • Heating & Cooling Technology
  • Information Systems Technology
  • Telecommunications

One applicant will be awarded a scholarship for the upcoming January 2025 Semester or the Fall 2025 Semester if awarded to a high school student.

Scholarship recipients will be chosen based on a combination of SAT/ACT score; overall GPA; work experience; written essay; letter of recommendation and applicant appraisal.

(co-sponsored by Grand Electric)

Attention: High School Seniors from Bison, Buffalo, Lemmon and Newell School Districts – Here is your chance to win a $750 Scholarship from WRCTC! One senior from each school district and/or combined school districts will be awarded a scholarship for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year.

For an application, please click on the appropriate school district:

Deadline is March 8, 2024.

Please mail the completed application and extra documents to:

Scholarship Program

WRCTC

PO Box 39

Bison, SD 57620

If you have questions regarding this scholarship, please contact Brooke Schecher at 605-244-5213 or 777.

Current employees’ and directors’ dependents are not eligible for this scholarship.

Win a FREE Trip to Washington, D.C.!

FRS Youth Tour • June 3 – June 7, 2024

  • Tour famous historical sites & monuments.
  • Learn what it takes to advance a community through broadband applications.
  • Meet with Federal Communications Commission and congressional staff.
  • Experience a special cultural performance.
  • Build relationships with peers that can last a lifetime.
  • Develop leadership skills.
  • Dance the night away with a Youth Tour mixer.

Deadline to apply is January 9, 2024.

*Students must be high school students, age 15, 16 or 17 at the time of the tour and be a dependent of a WRCTC member. Students age 18 or over are ineligible to attend. Students must agree to the COVID protocols. 

To apply, write an essay no more than 500 words on the topic of: How does your local Telephone Cooperative keep you “connected?”

Protocols for All Youth Tour Attendees 2023 (Students and Chaperones)

  • You must provide proof of complete vaccination against Covid-19 to attend the Youth Tour. Complete vaccination includes a booster shot. Proof of vaccination will be required when completing the student and chaperone information packets. There is no testing exemption.
  • The District of Columbia currently requires certain businesses, including restaurants, gyms, and hotel meeting rooms to check vaccination status. To prove vaccination status, you must show photo identification and one of the following:  a) a CDC issued vaccination card (original, photocopy or digital copy/photo); b) a record of immunization from a health care provider or public health authority; c) a COVID-19 verification app (e.g., VaxYes, Clear, Excelsior, MyIR); or d) World Health Organization Vaccination Record.  More information about Washington, DC’s vaccine requirement may be found at the following website.
  • You must wear a mask as required by locations we visit, hotel rules and any other time it is requested by staff.
  • Anyone with underlying COVID-19 related risk factors is discouraged from attending the Youth Tour.
  • Do not attend the Youth Tour if 1) you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms at the time you are scheduled to travel, or 2) you were exposed to someone with COVID-19 within 14 days prior to travel or have had a positive COVID-19 test within 10 days of travel, irrespective of symptoms.
  • To help protect yourself and each other, FRS follows CDC recommendations.
  • Hand shaking and other physical contact should be avoided.
  • If you experience COVID-19 symptoms while on site at the Youth Tour, return to your room, remain isolated and notify FRS staff. FRS staff will offer you information on COVID testing locations and other medical services, as requested. You may return to program activities if you present a negative test result. If positive for COVID-19, FRS may help you identify an appropriate course of action.

These Protocols are subject to change without notice at the sole discretion of FRS.

FRS notice: The Foundation for Rural Service is not responsible for costs associated with Covid-19 care and prevention. If a student tests positive while on the tour and is required to quarantine, it will be at the expense of the student. Expenses may include but are not limited to testing, hotel stay and food/beverage. You may wish to consider travel insurance at your own expense.

Failure to follow the Protocols in place put the Foundation’s ability to host the tour in jeopardy and threaten the safety of staff, chaperones, and other students. Students and chaperones found to be noncompliant with these Protocols will be asked to return to their hotel rooms and will be sent home as quickly as arrangements can be made. If you are not willing to follow the Protocols, please do not attend the youth tour.

If you have any questions regarding this scholarship, please contact Brooke Schecher at 605-244-5213 or 777.

Please note that the scholarship application process for the FRS Scholarship has changed!

Submitting one application is sufficient for eligibility of all available scholarships:

  • $2,500 FRS General Scholarship
  • $7,000 Everett Kneece Scholarship
  • $5,000 Herbert and Isabel Bitz Memorial Scholarship
  • $5,000 JSI Scholarship
  • $5,000 Sarah Tyree Good Neighbor Scholarship
  • $2,500 Cronin Communications Scholarship
  • $2,500 Diana Jo Dreyer Memorial Scholarship

To learn more about how to apply for this application, please click on: the FRS Scholarship flyer.

You can also click on: Kaleidoscope.

To be eligible for this scholarship, each applicant must:

• Be a graduating high school senior.

• Be a United States citizen.

• Be sponsored by a current NTCA member such as WRCTC

• Be accepted by an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school.

• Complete the online application.

• Express an interest to return to a rural community following graduation.

The application must be postmarked by February 16, 2024 and will be announced in May 2024.