Four high school seniors earn $1,000 IMUA Scholarship Awards

Four high-school seniors - one each from the IMUA member municipalities of Breese, Naperville, Springfield and St. Charles - have been chosen as winners in the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association's 2023 IMUA Scholarship Program essay competition.

This year's winners are Chase Heyen, a senior at Springfield High School in Springfield; Sydney Klemish, a senior at Breese Community High School in Breese; Ryan Lee, a senior at Waubonsie Valley High School in Naperville; and, Hannah Wojcik, a senior at St. Charles East High School in St. Charles.

Essays written by this year's four winners were chosen from entries submitted by eligible high-school seniors statewide.

Each winner will receive a framed award certificate and $1,000 award check from IMUA, both of which will be presented to each finalist at an upcoming and yet-to-be determined meeting of their respective city councils.

This year's competition featured a choice between two energy-related questions, the first concerning the advantages and benefits of public power, the second regarding Electric Vehicles (EVs).

Since its start in 2000, the scholarship program has awarded more than $60,000 to 100 students from various IMUA member-communities statewide.

Organized in 1948, the Illinois Municipal Utilities Association represents the unified interests of, and provides services to, nearly 50 municipalities that operate their own electric, natural gas, cable, telecommunications and water and wastewater-treatment systems.