KV REMC expands scholarship program to support students entering the trades

For years, Kankakee Valley Rural Electric Membership Corporation (REMC) has helped local students pursue higher education through scholarships funded by its Operation Round Up program. This year, the cooperative took that support a step further by introducing a new scholarship specifically for students planning to enter the skilled trades.

The new Trades Scholarship awarded two $1,500 scholarships to graduating high school seniors pursuing careers in the trades. The addition reflects a growing recognition of the vital role skilled workers play in communities across Northwest Indiana and beyond.

“The Operation Round Up Board understands that trade careers are extremely valuable to our communities,” said Jamie Shireman, Operation Round Up board director. “There is an increasingly high demand for qualified, knowledgeable workers in our country. We recognize this need and want to support students that decide to pursue a trade career. We see the value of opening different career paths for graduating students.”

Kankakee Valley REMC serves more than 21,000 residential and commercial members across Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Marshall, Pulaski, St. Joseph and Starke counties. Through Operation Round Up, members voluntarily round up their monthly electric bills to the nearest dollar, with the spare change supporting community initiatives and scholarships.

Amanda Steeb, director of marketing and communications for KV REMC, describes Operation Round Up as the cooperative’s philanthropic arm.

“Members round up their electric bill each month, and the change from those bills goes into a fund overseen by a board of directors representing each of the districts we serve,” Steeb said. “Since the program was developed in 2000, we’ve given more than $1.8 million to nonprofits through the trust.”

The average member contributes only around $6 annually through the program, while the maximum annual contribution is $11.

The idea for the new scholarship grew out of KV REMC’s development of a Trades Camp. For the past several years, the cooperative has hosted students interested in learning about careers in skilled trades through hands-on experiences and conversations with industry professionals.

“We recognized that there are a lot of students out there that maybe college just isn’t their next step, and that’s okay,” Steeb said. “Trades are such an important element to the way the world is moving, and technology is becoming such a part of everything that we do.”

The one-day camps expose students to a variety of careers, including electrician, carpentry, plumbing, operators and journeymen.  High school juniors and seniors spend the morning learning what a typical day looks like in each profession before trying hands-on activities in the afternoon.

During the hands-on portion of the camp, students have the opportunity to try skills associated with different trades. Participants have practiced knot-tying and used tools alongside lineworkers, while others have measured lumber and completed small building projects with carpentry professionals. The experience is designed to give students a better understanding of what working in a trade is actually like.

“We thought bringing a lot of people into one building and letting students talk to a lot of different trades might really help them focus on what truly their interests might be,” Steeb said.

Some students arrived at the camps focused on a specific career path but left with an interest in trades they had never previously considered. By introducing students to a variety of professions in one place, the camps help them explore options they may not otherwise encounter.

The success of the trades camps helped inspire conversations about expanding scholarship opportunities beyond traditional college-bound students.

Tim Miller, Operation Round Up board director, believes scholarships for students entering the trades are becoming increasingly common, as employers and organizations recognize the need for skilled workers.

“The Trades Scholarship gives an opportunity to those students that have chosen a different career path that does not require college,” Miller said. “We previously tended to only emphasize college for a career path but that inadvertently presents the trades as a career that is not important. Trades can offer students a good paying, stable career that is very essential to our society. Technology in many of the trades and an aging workforce has increased the importance of these careers even more.”

In addition to the two $1,500 Trades Scholarships, KV REMC awarded six undergraduate scholarships this year, including two $2,000 scholarships and four $1,000 scholarships.

To qualify, applicants must be graduating high school seniors planning to attend an accredited post-secondary institution or trades program. Their parent or legal guardian must be a KV REMC member-consumer who participates in Operation Round Up.

Applications for the 2027 scholarship cycle will be released in December and will be available through KV REMC’s Youth Programs section of the website.

For more information about Operation Round Up, scholarship opportunities and youth programs, visit kvremc.com/community/operation-round-up.