liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation recently awarded college scholarships to local high school students.
Office of Environmental Management
April 16, 2019
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AIKEN, S.C. – Savannah River Site (SRS) liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) recently awarded college scholarships to local high schoolers and grants to area elementary school teachers as part of education outreach.
SRR gave 15 scholarships to the high school seniors — all children of SRR employees — and 14 Students/Teachers Achieving Results (STAR) grants to 17 teachers in four counties surrounding SRS.
At a recent dinner and award reception, the students each received scholarships of $3,000. They were selected on the basis of leadership, extracurricular involvement, community service, grade point average, and scholastic achievement.
Tom Foster, SRR President and Project Manager, commended the students for their accomplishments and recognized their parents.
“We have the opportunity to reward these students for their hard work during high school and the honor of showing their parents, SRR employees, how much we appreciate them,” Foster said.
The teachers — from Aiken and Edgefield counties in South Carolina and Columbia and Richmond counties in Georgia — received grants to fund innovative approaches to teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum. Nearly $14,000 in grants were awarded.
Foster said giving back to teachers is a priority for the company.
“We believe it is important to partner with teachers who frequently give extra time and resources, often their own, to provide their students with opportunities that go above the standard curriculum,” Foster said. “Awarding these grants is our way of investing into a student’s STEM related learning in the classroom and getting them excited about the possibility of a future career in a STEM field.”
A team of SRR employees reviewed the grant proposals submitted this year and selected the entries to receive the grants based upon excellence in teaching to enhance elementary school science and mathematics programs.
SRR has provided more than $80,000 in grants since the company began awarding STAR grants in 2010.