Six Freeborn County graduates will receive $5,000 scholarships to attend Riverland Community College thanks to funding from the Minnesota Legislature.

The community college, District 27A Rep. Peggy Bennett, Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and regional sponsors introduced the program Friday. The scholarships, given to 18 graduating seniors in Freeborn, Steele and Mower counties, will be awarded to students majoring in manufacturing, health care, information technology and agriculture fields.

The Riverland Community College Foundation has matched legislative funds with business partners to provide $5,000 scholarships for the students.

Sponsors so far are Mayo Clinic Health System (two scholarships for Albert Lea; two for Austin), Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services (one scholarship for each Austin and Albert Lea), Minnesota Freezer Warehouse (Albert Lea), Zumbro River Brand (one for Albert Lea or Owatonna), Federated Insurance (Owatonna), Koda Living Community (Owatonna), Metal Services (Owatonna) and Allina Health/Owatonna Hospital (Owatonna). All provided funds for half of each scholarship.

At an event announcing the scholarships Friday at the chamber, educators and business professionals thanked the Legislature for allocating more than $45,000 so the scholarships could be provided.

Riverland President Adenuga Atewologun thanked Bennett, R-Albert Lea, for helping secure funding.

“Riverland is determined to fill its role to cultivate workers,” he said, adding the four fields of study the scholarships focus on are important for the community.

“They couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate workforce focus for us,” Atewologun said.

Bennett said it was exciting for her to see first-hand how legislation passed at the state level positively impacts the region.

“It’s very fun to see this actively working,” she said.

Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin Operations Manager Tricia Dahl said the scholarships are a way for local entities to work together.

“This is a way to give back and grow the workforce,” she said.

“We hope that these are helpful to students.”

Charlie Newell, president of Minnesota Freezer Warehouse, said the lack of workforce locally is limiting the growth of local companies.

“It’s just systemic in southern Minnesota,” said Newell, who thanked the Legislature and Riverland Community College for the scholarships.

The scholarships were also introduced Friday at chambers of commerce in Austin and Owatonna.

After the meeting, Steve Bowron, Riverland dean for institutional advancement, said the scholarships are “an incredible opportunity for students that are in one of those four career paths to get — a scholarship is going to pay all of your tuition for a year. That’s amazing.”

Bowron said students in the four fields of study might not know that scholarships are available.

“This is really going to open up a lot of doors for a lot of students,” he said.

“We’re really excited about having the opportunity to work together with the Chamber members like this, and the Legislature to finally want to be a part of the solution by opening this door so that we can all work together to try to meet this need.”