Garrett Simons is the winner of the 2023 R.D. Bennett Community Service Scholarship.
Garrett Simons of Hilton Head Island is the recipient of the 2023 R.D. Bennett Community Service Scholarship presented by The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, the trade association for South Carolina's independent, not-for-profit electric cooperatives. The $5,000 college scholarship is presented to a high school student who completes a community service project that best exemplifies the cooperative principle of “concern for community.”
Simons, 17, was among a group of high school students from across the state who completed projects this summer. A panel of judges selected his project, “Making Birthdays Bright,” as the winner in the competition. Simons donated more than 180 birthday boxes to 11 local food banks. The boxes contain everything needed for a recipient to bake and decorate a cake, and they’re given out to recipients who are having a birthday within their family. Simons also worked with Pockets Full of Sunshine—a nonprofit organization that helps adults with special needs—to assemble the birthday boxes.
“It has been so fulfilling to hear the feedback from how happy the food bank clients are when they receive the boxes and how it meets a need that was not met before,” said Simons. “The birthday boxes have helped many families facing food insecurity celebrate birthdays and gave them the supplies and extras needed that they might not be able to afford.”
"I was so impressed with Garrett’s ability to reach food banks throughout our entire service territory with his project,” said Berl Davis, Palmetto Electric president and CEO. “We are very proud of him and the work he has done in our community.”
Simons completed his project after attending the co-ops’ annual Washington Youth Tour program—which sends rising high school seniors to Washington, D.C. for a week each summer. Simons was of three local students chosen by Palmetto Electric Cooperative to attend the trip with a total of 59 students from across South Carolina.
Simons is a senior at Hilton Head Island High School.
The R.D. Bennett Community Service Scholarship is named for Robert D. Bennett, the first general manager and executive vice president of The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina. Bennett, who led the state association from 1950 until his retirement in 1980, strongly believed that electric cooperatives should support their local communities—providing a better quality of life for their members. His spirit of community service is reflected in this scholarship opportunity.
