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News > CEO’s Message – June 2026

CEO’s Message – June 2026

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Commitment to Community: Local Scholarships

Cooperative organizations consistently work to better their local communities. It’s one of the Seven Cooperative Principles – Commitment to Community. Stearns Electric lives out this principle in various ways throughout the year, such as through our scholarship programs. 

STEARNS ELECTRIC OPERATION ROUND UP® SCHOLARSHIPS
Through our Operation Round Up® program, Stearns Electric and our member-consumers award $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors every year. We have 21 high schools in our service territory, and every year, four of those schools are selected for scholarships on a rotating basis. Every fifth year, we award five scholarships. 

Recipients must be enrolled in one of our local high schools and must plan to pursue some form of secondary education. Additionally, the recipient’s parent or guardian must be a Stearns Electric member at their primary residence. 

Congratulations to this year’s recipients: (pictured left to right) 

  • Jacinta Radermacher, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa High School 
  • Brooke George, ROCORI High School 
  • Adalyn Godfrey, Sauk Rapids-Rice High School 
  • Jack Hamak, St. Cloud Cathedral High School 

NORTHERN CO-OP FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS
Stearns Electric is a founding partner of the Northern Cooperative Foundation. Through the foundation, scholarships are awarded annually to students in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota who are seniors in high school or post-secondary students pursuing higher education. Applicants must be a member of a cooperative and take courses in business or economics related to the cooperative principles. 

This year, eight students from our service territory were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship through the Northern Co-op Foundation: 

  1. Gavin Dahle, St. Augusta 
  2. Austin Klein, Holdingford 
  3. Gavin Olmscheid, Richmond 
  4. Jennifer Olmscheid, Richmond 
  5. Katie Orth, Randall 
  6. Blake Schaeffer, Clearwater 
  7. Gabbriella Schoenberg, Melrose 
  8. Luke Van Erp, Cold Spring 

For more information on our scholarship offerings, please visit our website. Congratulations to all recent graduates! We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, whatever they may be. 

Sincerely,

Matt O’Shea
Chief Executive Officer

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