Texhoma senior Zyliah Strickland wins Golden Spread scholarship

Zyliah Strickland of Texhoma has been named a recipient of the Golden Spread Directors’ Memorial Scholarship, giving a Texas County senior a $2,000 lift toward college or trade school and placing her in a regional program built around rural electric cooperatives.

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative and Tri-County Electric Cooperative announced the award on May 21. The scholarship is reserved for graduating high school seniors who are member-consumers of one of Golden Spread’s 16 member cooperatives and plan to attend an accredited college, university or technical school in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma or Texas the following fall.

For families weighing tuition, books, housing and transportation, the award is more than a line on a résumé. It pays $500 per semester for four semesters through the sophomore year, a structure that can help cover early college costs while students settle into classes and decide whether to pursue a degree or technical certification.

The scholarship was established in 1991 to honor former Golden Spread directors who were committed to advancing rural electrification. It is administered by The Opportunity Plan, Inc. of Canyon, Texas, and Golden Spread says it began with an initial memorial contribution honoring Connie Gupton, James T. Hull and Dwight Hutchison.

Golden Spread says the program is funded through annual contributions from the cooperative as well as gifts made in memory or honor of past board members. Applications open Jan. 1 each year and are due March 1, with recipients notified in May. Since the first scholarship was awarded in 1995, more than $208,000 has gone to 152 recipients.

That long run matters in places like Texhoma, where the path from a small Panhandle school to higher education often depends on a mix of family support, local institutions and outside aid. The scholarship connects a graduating senior from one of the region’s smaller communities to a network that reaches well beyond Texas County.

Golden Spread itself was organized in 1984 as a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative and serves about 336,000 electric meters across the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, southwestern Kansas and southern Colorado. TCEC says it serves about 12,500 members and 23,000 meters in the Oklahoma Panhandle, southwestern Kansas, the northern border of the Texas Panhandle and parts of Colorado.

For Texhoma, Strickland’s award is both a personal milestone and a reminder that the local cooperative system still carries a role in helping rural students move from high school into the next step of their education and workforce future.