LITTLE CANADA, Minn. - The Nexstar Legacy Foundation announced the winners of its 2009/2010 Scholarship Program, awarding a total of $19,500 in educational funds. Nine students planning to enter careers in the home-service industry in the fields of HVACR, electrical, or plumbing received scholarship awards that vary from $500 to $6,000 for the academic year.

The top scholarship prize, the Frank J. Blau Jr. Award, worth $6,000, went to Andrew J. Deckert; an engineering student at Michigan Technological University. Deckert has been accepted into the Research Honors Program and the Pavlis Institute for Global Technological Leadership.

Two scholarships, in the amount of $3,000 each, were awarded to university students seeking four-year degrees - Jesse Thornburg and Graham Thurber.

Three scholarships, in the amount of $2,000 each, were given to students attending technical colleges and seeking two-year degrees - Douglas DeFrance, Lincoln Deitrick, and Justin Henrickson. Three students attending apprentice programs were awarded $500 each - Malcolm Fisher, John Hutton V, and Zachary Woods.

The nine winning students were selected from a pool of over 200 scholarship applicants, with emphasis on interest and knowledge of their field of study. All scholarships are awarded with the purpose of bringing new talent into the home-services industry.

“The trade industries are facing a looming shortage of skilled labor,” said Brad Martin, board member of the foundation. “We hope to encourage more students to realize the possibilities these fields have to offer.”

For more information, visit www.nextstarfoundation.org.

Publication date: 06/29/2009