Shrikiriti Rajan, a senior at Sparkman High School in Harvest, has been selected as a recipient of a Georgia-Pacific Foundation Employees’ Children Scholarship.

She is the daughter of Sundararajan Padmanabhan and Vaidehi Bangaruswamy. Sundararajan is an engineering manager at the Pennington Georgia-Pacific mill. Each year the company awards 50 scholarships to the children of employees across the country.

“For more than 20 years, Georgia-Pacific has recognized the hard work and academic success of our

employees’ children,” said Kelvin Hill, vice president – Naheola Mill. “We look forward each year to working with secondary and post-secondary schools throughout our state to help meet the education demands that are so important to enabling Georgia-Pacific to create long-term value for our customers, company, and society. A well-educated workforce is crucial to the long-term success of our mill. When we support education, we’re helping create the workers that our business and the state of Alabama will need.”

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 program began in 1988, Georgia-Pacific has awarded 1,300 scholarships totaling nearly $10.5 million to its employees’ children.

“We’re proud to support the next generation of professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs in our communities. A college education is a vital step in determining the success of our young people,” said Curley M. Dossman, Jr., president of the Georgia-Pacific Foundation. “At Georgia-Pacific, we believe education is one of the most important building blocks of a strong, thriving community.”

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 nearly 35,000 people worldwide. Founded in 1958, the Georgia-Pacific Foundation has four key investment areas – education, community enrichment, the environment and entrepreneurship. For more information on the Georgia-Pacific Foundation, visit www.gp.com/gpfoundation.

Located in Pennington the Naheola Mill began operation in 1958. Georgia-Pacific Corp. acquired the facility in November of 2000. The mill employs approximately 1,000 people. The Naheola mill produces the Quilted Northern line of bathroom tissue – including the three-ply Quilted Northern Ultra Plus brand – as well as Angel Soft bathroom tissue. It also manufactures paper towels, and paperboard that is manufactured into Dixie food and beverage containers. In the past three years, the mill has donated more than $250,000 in contributions focused on the company’s four key investment areas and workforce development.