PINEVILLE, LA. - Cleco Corporation awarded scholarships to two students who attended the ADVANCE Program for Young Scholars at Northwestern State University held in June.

Andrew Bennett of Slidell and Joshua Bertalotto from Hamburg were selected to receive a scholarship. Bennett is the son of Gary and Melissa Bennett. He completed a creative writing course and is entering the tenth grade at Northshore High School. This is Bennett’s third year to attend the program.

Bertalotto is the son of Raymond and Virginia Bertalotto.  He studied chemistry at ADVANCE and is entering his junior year at Avoyelles Public Charter School.

The ADVANCE program is one of five collaborative efforts with Duke University’s Talent Identification Program and was started in 1989. During the three-week program, students are challenged to complete an in-depth study of a subject and cover an entire year’s worth of high school material or a semester of college level material.

The program at Northwestern is the only Duke collaborative program in Louisiana.

The courses cover a broad range of subjects from algebra to journalism to computer science and are offered to rising eighth-through 12th-grade students throughout the nation. Cleco supports the students with a $2,000 award.  Donated funds are used to help students from Cleco’s service territory attend the educational program.

For further information regarding ADVANCE, please call 318-357-4500 or visit www.advanceprogram.org.