JUNO BEACH, Fla. -- Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) today announced that it is accepting applications for its annual $20,000 STEM education college scholarship. The scholarship application period will run through Feb. 15, 2017. Announcement of the scholarship winner will take place in May. 

In 2015, FPL President and CEO, Eric Silagy announced the start of an annual scholarship that awards $5,000 annually to a high school senior who has participated for two or more years in a FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science) robotics program in FPL’s service area, has a cumulative GPA of 3.5 and has been accepted to an accredited four-year college or university majoring in engineering or information technology. Provided the student maintains a college GPA of 3.0, the scholarship is renewable for up to four years, totaling $20,000 in college tuition assistance.

“This is just one way that we express our commitment to working with the communities we serve to make Florida an even better place to work and raise a family,” said Pamela Rauch, vice president for external affairs and economic development for FPL. “We’re optimistic that this scholarship will aid students with an already-bright future, and ultimately encourage them to explore the great opportunities and benefits of a STEM career.”

In its inaugural year, the first recipient of the scholarship was Boca Raton-native Myles Byrne. Myles, who was a student at Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton now attends the University of California, Los Angeles and is pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. In the fifth grade, he created a demo for his school’s FIRST^® robotics team and later became a member of the Dirty Mechanics, a community-based FIRST^® robotics club sponsored by 4-H that is made up of students from eight different schools in South Palm Beach and North Broward counties. With this team, Byrne attended regional, state and national competitions throughout his junior and senior years. Last year, the team’s efforts earned them a trip to the World Championship competition in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Across the state, FPL sponsors 50 robotics teams and also sponsors the Southeast Florida FIRST regional competition, which will be held in West Palm Beach in early March.

In all, nearly 1,300 Florida schools have been touched by an FPL education program, including robotics clubs, and “Captain Wattage,” a traveling school assembly show about energy conservation. FPL has constructed more than 125 school solar energy stations and trained nearly 600 teachers in a curriculum used in conjunction with the solar stations. In 2016, FPL hosted four STEM teachers from the School District of Palm Beach County in paid “externships.” The teachers spent the summer working alongside FPL professionals, seeing firsthand how skills acquired in STEM curricula translate into real world jobs – insights they took back to their classrooms.

For more information on applying for the STEM scholarship, visit www.FPL.com/education.

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