ELYRIA, Ohio — RIDGID, a part of Emerson’s professional tools portfolio, will award scholarships to four plumbing and HVACR apprentices as part of its partnership with the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) Educational Foundation and its apprentice contest.

Each winner will receive a $1,000 education scholarship, plus $1,500 of tools from RIDGID and a special recognition at PHCC CONNECT 2021, Oct. 20-22, in Kansas City, Mo. Scholarship winners are selected by the PHCC Educational Foundation Scholarship Committee’s contractor members.

“RIDGID has had a long-standing commitment of supporting trade education and has been a proud sponsor of the PHCC Apprentice Contest for over a decade,” said Denis Hanna, director of sales and vocational training programs, RIDGID for Emerson. “The contest is a great opportunity for apprentices to showcase their skills and learn from others. We’re excited to see the impact each of this year’s RIDGID scholarship winners has on the industry in the coming years."

2021 scholarship recipients include:

• Tyler Earle of Forestdale, Mass, is studying plumbing installation, service and repair at Upper Cape Tech Adult & Continuing Education.
• Martin Gorman of Belmont, Mass., is studying plumbing installation, service and repair at New England Institute of Technology.
• Paul Kwiecinski of Chicago, Ill., is studying HVACR installation, service and repair at HVAC Technical Institute Chicago.
• Christopher Friendly of Anchorage, Alaska, is studying plumbing installation, service and repair at Alaska Vocational Technical Center.