Scholarships & Youth Programs
Check out the variety of programs and scholarships offered by Great lakes Energy.
Youth Tour
Are you a high school sophomore or junior? Are your parents/guardians members of Great Lakes Energy? Youth Tour provides a free once-in-a-lifetime learning and leadership experience attended by students from electric cooperatives all over the country.
In 2025, Great Lakes Energy will send four students, from June 18-23, to Washington, D.C. to participate in our Rural Electric Youth Tour!
Please note: The application deadline for this year’s trip has passed. Check back in late November for information on applications for next year’s trip.
Visit cooperativeyouthtour.com to learn more about the program.
Highlights of the trip include:
- A bus tour to Washington, D.C., with stops along the way at historic locations;
- Networking opportunities in Washington with around 2,000 other students from co-ops across the nation;
- Tours of historical landmarks in Washington;
- The chance to be appointed to Youth Leadership Council, a consortium elected by fellow Youth Tour students to serve for a year as national representatives of electric co-ops.
Online Applications
for the 2026 Youth Tour will be available in late November 2025.
For additional information, please contact Whitney Gilland at [email protected], or 888-485-2537, ext. 1334.
GLE Scholarships
Great Lakes Energy is proud to offer scholarship opportunities for students pursuing careers in electrical linework, electrical engineering, and information technology.
The lineworker program scholarship, which was previously funneled through Alpena Community College and Northwest Lineman College, has been expanded to include eligibility for any accredited lineworker program in the United States. Up to six $1,000 lineworker program scholarships will be awarded annually.
For students seeking degrees in electrical engineering or in information technology, two $2,500 scholarships are available for each of these two areas of study.
The scholarships are available for residents of Michigan who have a GPA of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale and are enrolled or planning to enroll in an accredited program for the upcoming school year or program term. We closed the 2024-25 school year application period with $16,000 in scholarships awarded.
Scholarship eligibility requirements are included on the applications, which are available here:
- Electrical engineering/information technology scholarship application
- Lineworker program scholarship application
The scholarship application window for the 2025-26 school year closed on March 31, 2025.
For more information contact:
GLE Organizational Development Manager
(888) 485-2537, Ext. 8179
[email protected]
Safety Demonstrations
Great Lakes Energy is committed to promoting electrical safety in the communities we serve. Our free safety demonstration program provides valuable electrical safety education to members and service organizations in the areas where GLE members live.
The Powertown safety demonstration includes a tabletop display designed for indoor presentations, ideal for engaging students and youth groups.
The Hotline safety demonstration includes a trailer display for outdoor presentations, ideal for fire departments, road commissions and community groups.
Availability
- Locations: Available to schools and organizations within the Great Lakes Energy service area.
- Scheduling: Our team will work with you to find an available date for the requested demonstration.
Who Can Request a Demonstration:
- Schools and Youth Groups: 3rd – 7th graders preferred; we bring safety education directly to your classroom.
- Fire Departments, Road Commissions and Community Groups: Local service groups and organizations; the safety trailer provides life-sized demonstration of the importance of electrical safety.
How to Request a Demonstration
To request a free safety demonstration, please fill out the form below. We’ll get in touch with you to schedule a date and time that works for your group.
Classroom Grants
School districts in the Great Lakes Energy service area that educate children of GLE members can receive a grant of up to $2,000 to fund innovative programs, particularly those involving technology or equipment that enrich students’ education. Preference will be given to projects that involve technology, equipment or materials that can be used more than once, enhance learning, are not currently being funded through the school’s budget, and are likely to be fresh and exciting to students. The project does not have to involve the study of electricity.
Teachers and administrators of public or private K-12 schools may apply. Multiple projects within the same school district can be combined to a maximum award per district of $2,000 per year.
Grants awarded for the 2024-2025 school year bring the total to just over $332,700 for 222 projects since GLE launched its classroom grant program in 2012. Great Lakes Energy will award up to $30,000 total in grants for the 2025-2026 school year.
Online Applications
for the 2025-2026 school year open in September 2025.
For additional information, please contact Whitney Gilland at [email protected], or 888-485-2537, ext. 1334.
Spread the word!
Share the availability of GLE classroom grant applications with parents and teachers to help bring innovative educational enhancements to classrooms in our community!
These schools received classroom grants for the 2024-2025 school year:
- Ludington Elementary School, Ludington, $2,000 for electrical circuits and electromagnets
- Mason County Central Schools, Scottville, $1,899.50 for GoPiGo kits and Raspberry Pi
- St. Stanislaus School, Dorr, $2,000 for the robotics program
- Tri County Middle School, Howard City, $1,925 for Bit Board Rovers
- Oceana Christian School, Hart, $2,000 for Cubelets Robot Blocks
- Patricia St. Clair Elementary School, Hesperia, $1,920 for indi robots
- Grant Elementary School, Grant, $1,568.76 for broadcast programming and equipment
- Wolverine Elementary School, Wolverine, $1,000 for a BenQ board
- Inland Lakes Schools, Indian River, $1,339.98 for a MakerBot 3D printer
- Shelby High School, Shelby $1,800 for programmable robots
- Boyne City Middle School, Boyne City, $2,000 for microscopes
- Coopersville Middle School, Coopersville, $2,000 for a laser engraver cutting machine
- Charlevoix Elementary School, Charlevoix, $1,265 for DASH robots
- Harbor Light Christian School, Harbor Springs, $700 for PocketLab’s G-Force cars
- Grayling High School, Grayling, $2,000 for cameras and equipment
- Newaygo Elementary School, Newaygo, $2,000 for Ozobots
- McBain Middle School, McBain, $2,000 for Snap Circuit kits & 3D pens
- Pentwater Public School, Pentwater, $599 for classroom hydroponics growing system
Public or private schools that have children of Great Lakes Energy members enrolled may apply for a classroom grant. The school or school district does not need to have electricity supplied by Great Lakes Energy.- If your district is very near or within the shaded areas on the map below, you are eligible to apply. Schools far from the shaded area will most likely not be eligible. Contact us with questions.
- Each separate school within a school district may apply for a grant; however, multiple schools within a school district will be limited to a collective total of $2,000 for this grant cycle. Please note that your request can be for less than $2,000.
- We serve areas in these 26 counties: Allegan, Antrim, Barry, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Clare, Crawford, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Kent, Lake, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Missaukee, Montcalm, Montmorency, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Oscoda, Ottawa, Otsego, Wexford.
Please note: We serve limited areas in each of these counties, so your school district or specific schools within your district may not be eligible. Review the map below for coverage areas and contact us if you have a question.
- Describe the proposed project/program. What purpose would it accomplish? How will it use technology in an innovative, educational way?
- What is the estimated cost of the project/program?
- Are outside funds needed?
- Please attach supporting documents such as an itemized list, if appropriate.
- Who and how many would benefit from this project/program?
- How many students are in your school?
- Explain how the program will meet the objectives/goals of the grant program?
- How long would the project/program be able to benefit the students?
- Will this project/program have a community impact?
- Promotes innovation in the classroom
- Will enrich students’ learning experience
- Impacts a significant number of students at the school
- Establishes potential for long-term benefit to the student body
- Includes measurable indicators of success
- Clarity of the application
