CEO’s Message – May 2024

Congratulations, Graduates!

If you were at our Annual Meeting last month, I hope you got a chance to meet our 2024 academic scholarship recipients. It’s always so fulfilling to greet these kids face to face and catch a glimpse of our future in their curious, confident, excited young faces. We had 11 applicants this year, and I wish we could have supported them all equally. They were all very deserving and accomplished students.

These 11 local students are among nearly 74,000 high school seniors who will graduate in Washington state this year. Many will go on to College, many will seek other paths to further their education, and many others will say goodbye to the classroom and hello to the working world. To all of them, especially our local high school graduates, we say bon voyage, best wishes, well done and we are proud of you.

The high school graduation rate in Walla Walla County was 81.6 percent in 2023, which is a couple of points higher than the national average. Our schools are doing a good job. Study after study shows that the strength of a community is largely impacted by the strength of its schools. We are very fortunate to live in a community that values education, takes pride in its schools, and supports its kids.

Columbia Rural Electric Association (CREA) has a legacy of supporting our area schools, including our colleges, because our schools support our kids, and our kids are the foundation of our communities. Some of our local high school seniors will graduate and move away, never to return. Some will return and build their lives, careers, and families here, and some students who come to this area for college will stay and create a new home for themselves. Our young people are important now because of what they will do then. That is why we support not only our local schools, but our local youth sports, after-school programs, 4H, FFA, and numerous events and organizations that offer youth programs of all kinds. We always have and we always will. It’s quite simply an investment in our future and one that pays dividends both immediately and down the road.

So, to all of our class of 2024 high school and college graduates, congratulations! We see you, and we support you! And we can’t wait to see what you do next!

Best,
Scott Peters
CEO