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LPEA John Voelker Memorial Scholarships

The LPEA John Voelker Memorial Scholarships are designed to encourage careers with rural electric cooperatives by providing financial support to high school graduating students pursuing higher education. Two scholarships are awarded annually, each providing $5,000 per year for two years to cover tuition, fees, books, tools, and supplies. Recipients must be LPEA members who are high school graduates from within LPEA's service territory (including Durango, Bayfield, Pagosa Springs, and Ignacio) and must enroll as first-year students at any accredited institution of higher education in the U.S., including vocational schools, technical schools, junior colleges, or universities. The program focuses on students whose academic majors or programs lead to degrees, certifications, or licenses related to rural electric industry careers. To maintain eligibility for the second year, students must remain enrolled full-time, maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, and complete at least 15 academic credits each term.

Cave Johnson Memorial Entrepreneurship Award

In honor of Aperture Science's visionary founder, this award recognizes entrepreneurs who embody Cave Johnson's spirit: bold, uncompromising, and willing to make life take the lemons back. "I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!" — This is the energy we're looking for in applicants. Not literally, of course. The award supports entrepreneurs at any stage who demonstrate exceptional vision and a healthy disregard for the impossible.