ROXBURY — The town has established a scholarship for graduating high school seniors who demonstrate academic excellence, creativity to peers and the community, and an effort to advance sustainability in the town.

The Renewable Award is initially funded with $100,000 from the developers of the RoxWind Project: Palmer Capital Corp. and Horseshoe Valley Wind. The money was deposited into a town account and the annual interest will provide one or two cash awards each year.

“I’m very excited that a little town like ours can offer this, and to be able to encourage our young people to go on to further schooling,” Tim Derouche, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said. The scholarship program has been in the works for about a year, he said.

“We decided we wanted to start offering this right away,” he said. “The plan is to offer up to two scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to $4,000, to selected graduating seniors.”

Derouche said the Renewable Award is in memory of John Richardson Sr., one of the original members with Palmer Capital Corp. The $100,000 check was presented by his son, John Richardson Jr., to selectmen Feb. 14.

“Our team is pleased to partner with the town on the Renewable Award,” Lindsay Deane-Mayer, senior vice president of the corporation, said. “We strongly believe that today’s graduates are tomorrow’s problem-solvers. We hope that this award will support students of Roxbury for many years to come as they continue their education and become the next generation of leaders.”

“We are grateful to the town and its many citizens who came forward during the development period to offer their support, guidance and voice,” Bob Patton, a partner with Horseshoe Valley Wind, said. “Without their efforts, this project would not have been successful. The Renewable Award is being given by the development team to show our appreciation of all they contributed to help bring this project to life.”

The RoxWind project has four wind turbines that have been operating about a year.

There are 22 wind turbines with the Record Hill Wind project, which have operated since 2011.

Nominations from residents and graduating seniors must be submitted to the Selection Committee by March 31 each year and must include a description of the nominee’s eligibility, qualifications and why the nominee should receive the scholarship.

Renewable Award criteria include: A resident of Roxbury at least two years; a graduating senior from a public or private high school, or home-school program, who exhibits exemplary academic achievement, and/or demonstrates effort to advance the cause of sustainability in Roxbury, and/or creativity and leadership to peers and the community.

Other potential criteria are: Preference to students with at least a 2.8 GPA and who plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study or other credentialed continuing education.

The recipients will be announced by the Select Board in May of each year.

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