Mercury Air Group is proud to announce the recipients of the annual Jeannie Schreider Educational Advancement scholarship fund, Robert Clark and Louisa "Annie" Southey. Both Clark and Southey will receive a total of $2500 over the course of 2015 to help pay for their educational expenses.

The Jeannie Schreider scholarship fund was established in 2012 to honor one of Mercury Air Group's longtime and beloved employees, Jeanie Schreider. Mercury CEO Joe Czyzyk described Jeanie as a person with an amazing spirit who was always in good spirits and had an insatiable drive for self-improvement. Her smile never seemed to waver, he said, despite undergoing months of surgery and chemotherapy treatments to battle the cancer that would eventually claim her life.

Jeanie started with Mercury in 1990, and over her 20+ years with the company she wore many hats with increasing levels of responsibility. It is in recognition of Jeanie's spirit and drive to always do more and learn more that the scholarship is awarded.

Each year, Mercury Air Group awards a select few of its employees among which the $5,000 scholarship can be awarded. A call for applications is announced each year in February. A committee reviews the applications and the winners are announced in early May.

Robert Clark is one of the scholarship recipients for 2015, and he is a customer service agent at Mercury Air Cargo. Robert is the lead agent on the night shift. preparing documents for the cargo that comes in, ensuring all is in line with U.S. Customs and Border Security guidelines, and general customer service tasks.

He's been with Mercury for three years, and the degree he is currently pursuing is an associate degree in Aviation Maintenance. "The aviation field is a wide open scene with a lot of opportunity to do different things in aviation. I see it as an opportunity to branch out and do something great," he said.

He hopes to complete the program by December. When he learned he was being awarded the scholarship, he was pleasantly surprised. "It was great – it's a lot of help for me, financially."

Robert hopes the degree will give him an edge in hiring for future higher management positions. "To me, the sky is the limit," he said, "so with me getting my degree, it gives me a chance of achieving that."

Annie Southey is also a customer service agent who has been with Mercury Air Cargo for five years. She described her primary job is to work with customers over the phone and at the counter.

She is pursuing a certificate in medical billing and coding. While it may seem unrelated to her current work, she sees the program as an opportunity to improve herself and give back to the community.

"I thought I could use some of this knowledge to help some of the senior citizens in our church - talk to them if they have questions, and then I could go out into the wider community to do community service," Annie said.

"I wanted to do to something to help those that could do with a little bit of help," she said.

Annie said she also appreciates the opportunity as it allows her to pursue an education and set a good example for her children. "Thank you to the Mercury family for considering me and nominating me as one of two recipients," she said. "If I can do something like this, at 53, then my children…they can do more than what I'm doing now," she said. "It's like, 'If I can do it, you can do it,'" she said.