Charles Flanders, a recent graduate of Zachary High School, has been selected as a recipient of a Georgia-Pacific Foundation Employees’ Children Scholarship.

Flanders, the son of Chris and Vickie Flanders, is a Senior Process Control Engineer at the Georgia-Pacific Port Hudson Operations.

Also selected was Tyler Usie, also a ZHS Class of 2012 graduate.

Each year GP awards 50 scholarships to the children of employees across the country. Usie is the son of Ron and Debra Usie. Ron is an Environmental Engineer at Port Hudson.

In addition, the Port Hudson Operations provides a non-endowed scholarship for a Zachary High student planning to study Engineering at Louisiana State University. This 2012 scholarship was awarded to Kyle Ellis. He will be attending LSU in the Mechanical Engineering program.

Keith Wahoske was very proud to hold a reception for the scholarship recipients at the mill. “Supporting education has always been an emphasis for Georgia-Pacific because we believe higher education is vital for building a stronger community,” said Wahoske.

The Georgia-Pacific Foundation Scholarship Program for Employees’ Children is administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and is open to children of all active, full-time employees of Georgia-Pacific in the United States. The award is $2,000 per year for up to four years of full time college undergraduate study or until baccalaureate degree requirements are completed, whichever occurs first, for a total maximum award of $8,000.

Since the inception of this program in 1988, Georgia-Pacific has awarded 1,250 scholarships totaling $10 million to its employees’ children.

“A post-secondary education is one of the most important factors in determining the future success of our young people and our communities – today’s students are tomorrow’s business owners, teachers and volunteers,” said Curly M. Dossman, Jr., president of the Georgia-Pacific Foundation. “For more than 20 years, Georgia-Pacific has recognized the hard work and academic success of our employees’ children. We are proud to continue this support, especially with the increases in costs that families and students are experiencing.”

Georgia-Pacific Foundation Employees’ Children Scholarships are examples of the types of critical needs community investments made by Georgia-Pacific, and other companies owned by Koch Industries.

Nationally, Koch companies contribute tens of millions of dollars annually through in-kind giving and direct contributions to causes and organizations focusing on economic education and educational programs, arts and culture, health and human services, community and civic causes, and environmental projects.

Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of building products, tissue, packaging, paper, cellulose and related chemicals. The company employs 40,000 people at 300 locations in North America, South America and Europe. Georgia-Pacific is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, LLC, a privately-owned company headquartered in Wichita, Kan.  Koch companies and its subsidiaries employ more than 67,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.gp.com.

Founded in 1958, the Georgia-Pacific Foundation is the mainstay of the company’s community investment strategy and has four key investment areas – education, community enrichment, the environment and entrepreneurship. For more information on the GP Foundation, visit www.gp.com/gpfoundation/index.html.