Peachtree Ridge High Grad Wins Georgia-Pacific Scholarship

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Blake Best, a recent graduate of Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, has been selected as a recipient of a Georgia-Pacific Foundation Employees’ Children Scholarship.

He is the son of Thomas and Lynne Best. Thomas works in sales at Georgia-Pacific’s headquarters. Each year, the company awards 50 scholarships to children of employees across the country.

“We’re very proud to support our employees’ children through this program,” said Curley M. Dossman, Jr., president of the Georgia-Pacific Foundation. “Investing in education has always been an important focus for us, but this program is especially meaningful because our employees are directly impacted. We look forward to helping these students on their path to academic success.”

At Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Blake lettered in football and baseball while maintaining a perfect GPA. He has also been recognized as a Merit Scholar. This fall, he will attend the University of Kentucky, where he will study Economics and Finance as well as play football as a preferred walk-on..

The Georgia-Pacific Foundation Scholarship Program for Employees’ Children awards $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 scholarship program began in 1988, Georgia-Pacific has awarded 1,400 scholarships totaling $11.4 million. The program 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.

Across the country, Georgia-Pacific supports a wide array of community-based educational programs that help transition students from school to the workforce with scholarships, job readiness training, and technical programs. Georgia-Pacific believes in helping people with the skills needed to succeed and move forward in today’s workplace.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, office papers, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven fabrics, building products and related chemicals.

The company employs approximately 35,000 people directly, and creates nearly 130,000 jobs indirectly. Founded in 1958, the Georgia-Pacific Foundation has four key investment areas: education, community enrichment, environment and entrepreneurship. For more information on the Georgia-Pacific Foundation, visit www.gp.com/gpfoundation.

Photo: Peachtree Ridge High School graduate Blake Best receives college scholarship award from Georgia-Pacific CEO and President Jim Hannan. Credit: Georgia-Pacific