Dean Hopkins (center) is presented a $2,000 scholarship by FSU's Mike Feutz (left) and EAI's William Elliot.


BIG RAPIDS, MI — The Excellence Alliance Foundation (EAF), a unit of Excellence Alliance Inc. (EAI), Hebron, KY, recently awarded its first-ever EAF Scholarship.

The recipient, Dean E. Hopkins, of Remus, MI, was all smiles as he received the good news from Mike Feutz, hvacr department chairman at Ferris State University (FSU). It was fitting that FSU, one of the foremost four-year hvacr universities in the country, sponsored the initial recipient. The scholarship culminated the first phase of EAF’s plan to “provide funds to qualified institutions for distribution as qualified scholarships to individuals seeking education or training in the contracting industry.”

The symbolic check was presented to Hopkins by Feutz and William Elliot, an EAI contractor-member and the founder of Elliot Heating and Cooling, Inc., Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

Hopkins was accompanied by his mother, Johanna. He lives with his mother, his father Dan, and his younger brother Brad on a 300-acre dairy farm approximately 25 miles from the FSU campus. Hopkins graduated from Chippewa Hills High School in June 2001. He plans to open his own hvac business in his hometown after he finishes his training and apprenticeship.

Publication date: 07/09/2001