Morgan Duplantis

Local students get Aggreko scholarships

Two Teche Area students were awarded scholarships by Aggreko. For the past 14 years, the company has granted scholarships to students of its employees who are preparing to enter their first year of college.

Morgan Duplantis, the daughter of Tonya Duplantis, asset manager of Aggreko North America in New Iberia, received the 2014 Phil Harrower Scholarship.

This fall, she will attend Louisiana College where she will be studying to earn a graduate degree in social work with a minor in Spanish. She enjoys traveling abroad and hopes to one day open her own international adoption agency.

Braylin Lopez, the daughter of Marc Lopez, an electrician at National Power and OFA Service in New Iberia, received the Aggreko Merit Scholarship. This fall she will be enrolled at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she will pursue a degree in chemical engineering.

Each year, the Phil Harrower Scholarship Program, named in honor of the late CEO of Aggreko, awards one recipient with a $1,500 scholarship per academic year. Aggreko Merit Scholarship recipients receive $1,000 per academic year. A total of $130,500 has been awarded to 70 students since the scholarship programs were launched in 2000.

To qualify, applicants had to demonstrate their merit by submitting an essay describing their career ambitions and reasons for seeking a scholarship, earn a 3.0 grade point average or higher and show proof of acceptance into an accredited college, university or technical school. Judges also evaluated candidates based on several other criteria including SAT/ACT scores, academic awards and extra-curricular activities.