The IBEW proudly presents 2004 Founders’ Scholarship recipients Scott R. Evarts and Robert G. Hughs. Both have displayed the kind of dedication and tenacity as the wiremen and linemen who organized the IBEW in 1891.

Evarts and Hughs were chosen by a panel of judges for the annual scholarship that awards winners with up to $24,000 in tuition assistance toward college and postgraduate education. Advancing the careers of the recipients, the scholarships also enhance the electrical industry that IBEW founders envisioned.

Evarts, a journeyman inside wireman and member of Local 915, in Tampa, Florida, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of South Florida.

Scott R. Evarts

"By allowing IBEW members to increase their education and professional competency, the Founders’ Scholarship directly affects the quality of work in the electrical industry as well as the positive reputation and representation of the IBEW within the larger work force," Evarts said in the essay he submitted to the scholarship committee.

A 10-year veteran of the IBEW, Evarts is a Democratic precinct committeeman in Plant City, Florida, and a volunteer who works with the homeless and substance abuse victims.

Local 545 member Robert Hughs will use his scholarship award to earn a bachelor’s degree in business finance and economics at Missouri Western State College. A journeyman wireman, the St. Joseph, Missouri, resident is a five-year member of the IBEW.

Local 545 member Robert Hughs, his wife,
Jennifer, and son, Dylan

"This opportunity helps members strengthen their commitment to the labor movement by strengthening their ambitions," said Hughs, who was also selected for a $1,000 scholarship by Union Plus earlier this year.

A past vice president of the Northwest Missouri Central Labor Council, Hughs is secretary of the Local 545 political action committee. He is also active in the community as a board member of the local Community Action Agency and columnist in the St. Joseph Telegraph who pens "This Working Man’s View."

Right: members of the 2004 Founders' Scholarship Selection Committee are IBEW Scholarship Administrator James Voye, left, Marco Consulting Group Vice President Greg Kinczewski, State University of New York Empire State College Professor Roger Keeran and Rutgers University Professor John Bennett.

IBEW Founders’ Scholarship Administrator James Voye was joined on the selection committee by Rutgers University Professor John Bennett, State University of New York Empire State College Professor Roger Keeran and Marco Consulting Group Vice President Greg Kinczewski.