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Territorial Dispatch

Yuba City Student Awarded $5,000 PG&E Better Together STEM Scholarship

Sep 25, 2024 01:12PM ● By PG&E News Release

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - The PG&E Corporation Foundation announced that 60 students from hometowns across Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Northern and Central California service area were awarded 2024 Better Together STEM Scholarships.

Among the awardees is Alexis Schoel of Yuba City, who received a $5,000 scholarship and is majoring in mechanical engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“I am a first-generation college student. Coming from a high school of less than 50 kids, only offered 3 AP classes, no high school counselor, and students who had to be a part of everything to keep everything running,” said Schoel. “This scholarship will allow me to go on to further education in an area I am passionate about. It will give me the opportunity to take more advanced courses and go on to be the first person in my family with a bachelors. This accomplishment is not just for me, but also for my family. This scholarship will help me achieve all my future goals of becoming an engineer and maybe even one day leading my own team of engineers.” 

The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) funds the Better Together STEM Scholarship program, an amount that totaled $350,000 this year. Through the program, the PG&E Foundation is sponsoring 20 scholarships of $10,000, 20 scholarships of $5,000, and 20 scholarships of $2,500 each. These charitable donations come from PG&E shareholders, not PG&E customers.

The scholarships are awarded to students pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines. STEM education fosters ingenuity, creativity, and experimentation, leading to new ideas, innovations, and technological advancements that can have global impact.

Scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, demonstrated participation and leadership in school and community activities, and financial need. A full list of this year’s scholarship recipients can be seen at  https://www.pgecurrents.com/articles/4028-introducing-2024-better-stem-scholarship-recipients.

“We are grateful that we can do our part to lessen the financial burden of college tuition to help students and their families in the communities where we live and work,” said Joe Wilson, vice president of PG&E’s North Valley & Sierra Region. “We are also thrilled that these deserving and exceptional students will be able to pursue their STEM-based, higher education goals — we can’t wait to see what their futures hold and how they will each make their mark in this world and our communities. Congratulations to all of our scholars.”

Scholarship recipients must plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study for the entire 2024-2025 academic year and be seeking their first undergraduate degree at an accredited four-year institution in California, or an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) anywhere in the United States. HBCU eligibility was added two years ago in response to a trend in applications from students admitted to HBCUs, none of which are in California.

Supporting Local Scholars

Since 2012, the Better Together STEM Scholarship Program has awarded nearly $7.5 million to accomplished students — all charitable donations from PG&E shareholders, not customers.

In addition to the Better Together STEM Scholarship Program, PG&E's 11 employee resource groups (ERGs) and two engineering networking groups (ENGs) award scholarships to help offset the cost of higher education. The funds are raised entirely through employee donations, employee fundraising events and Campaign for the Community, the company’s employee giving program. Since 1989, more than $6 million ERG/ENG Scholarships have been received by thousands of recipients.