In 2019 the Foundation will award six scholarships to high school seniors graduating in 2019. Each scholarship will be in the amount of $2,000. There are two types of scholarships this year:

1. One $2,000 Telecom Scholarship: To be eligible, applicants must be majoring in either Telecommunications or Information Technology (IT) at a university, college, or technical college and be a Minnesota resident.

2. One of five $2,000 General Scholarships: To be eligible, applicants must be attending post-secondary education at a university, college, or technical college, be a Minnesota resident, and the applicant’s family must subscribe to at least one service from a MTA member company.

>> Download the Application

Interested applicants can fill out the application online and print their application. Once printed, the applicants need to combine it with their two applicant appraisals, high school transcript, essay, and class ranking.

The applications must be returned to you for initial screening. The cover sheet of the application informs students that the applications must be returned to you (the Telco manager) by February 22, 2019. This allows the student about eight weeks to complete the application. Please mail the completed scholarship application forms to the MTA office for processing with a postmark no later than March 15, 2019. This allows you three weeks to review the scholarship forms for completeness.

Please mail the completed forms to:
Brent J. Christensen
Minnesota Telecom Alliance Foundation
1000 Westgate Drive, Suite 252
St. Paul, MN 55114-8679

Sometimes applicants send their completed forms directly to the Foundation instead of to you. Please remind counselors/students/teachers that the completed forms MUST be returned to you. Also note that the Telco manager must endorse the student’s application and verify that the students are Minnesota residents and their family subscribes to at least one service from your Telco.

We look forward to working with you in the scholarship process this year. We know your enthusiasm for and financial contributions to this program are the main reasons for its success. Your hard work in meeting the deadlines is sincerely appreciated by all of us!

The scholarship notifications are made by the Foundation to the recipients. If a student in your serving area is awarded a scholarship, you will also be notified. In this event, we will provide you with a press release you may use in your local news media.

We have drafted a news release local Telcos can use to “get the word” out about the scholarships. If you want to let the media in your area know about the scholarships, please feel free to download the press release at: https://www.mnta.org/resource/resmgr/files/MTA-Foundation-Press-Releas.docx

Also included is a draft letter to high schools in your area about the scholarship, which can be found here: https://www.mnta.org/resource/resmgr/files/2019_Scholarship_Announceme.docx. The letter also includes information about the telecom degree program at Minnesota West Technical College. The MTA is taking an active part in recruiting new students for their program. The letter directs the schools to contact MN West directly if they would like more information. If you would be willing to host a tour of your facility for high school students who may have an interest in telecommunications, please contact Brent Christensen.

If you have any questions, please contact Brent Christensen by email at brentc@mnta.org or call him at 651.288.3723.

About the Scholarship

To be eligible, applicants must be attending post-secondary education at either an university, college, or technical college, be a Minnesota resident, and the applicant’s family must subscribe to at least one service from a MTA member company. The panel reviewed each application and scored the applications based on applicants’ grades, academic achievements and extra-curricular activities. A total of 6 — $2,000 scholarships were approved by the Board to be awarded this year. The top applicant is awarded the Bud Morrow Scholarship each year.

The 2018 MTA Foundation Scholarship winners were:

• Abbey Faith Schiefelbein, Arvig
• Annalise Ellen Ahrendt, Arvig 
• Russell Anthony Arno, Arvig
• Brayden Michael Sorenson, Garden Valley Technologies
• Kendra Schmitz, TDS  (Bud Morrow Award)
• Ethan Sindelir, BevComm

Congratulations to all of the 2018 MTA Foundation Scholarship winners!

View past scholarship winners.

Since its inception in 2008, the MTA Foundation has awarded $68,000 in scholarships to customers of MTA member companies. The scholarships are funded through private donations, fundraisers at the MTA Convention and golf outing, and the Pinnacle golf outing. The MTA Foundation Board of Directors would like to thank all MTA members who contribute to the Foundation and make these scholarships possible. The MTA Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit. Contributions to the Foundation are tax deductible.