Local man wins third place in ‘Who Powers You’ contest

GLASGOW, Ky. – Following years of teaching students in Hart County, a veteran educator is being recognized for helping them reach beyond the classroom.

Steve Kistler saw hard-working and accomplished students face obstacles when it came to their next level of education due to costs, according to a release by Farmers RECC,

Because of Kistler’s efforts to combat this, he has been named the third place winner of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Who Powers You contest.

Kistler worked with a group of individuals in Hart County to start the Hart County Scholarship Alliance in 2015, a nonprofit to assist deserving Hart County students fund their education.

Kistler still serves as the nonprofit’s executive director.

Farmers RECC says Kistler will receive a $250 check for his work.

“We got a board together and we started asking people for money, and it was way more generous than we anticipated,” Kistler said. “In the first year, we got five or six thousand dollars in donations, and we were thrilled.”

The release says scholarship contributions in 2023 grew to $50,000 per year, and over the course of a decade, the nonprofit provided nearly half a million dollars toward educational scholarships for Hart County students.

“The more education you can pour into a community, the better it’s got to be for everybody,” he said.

Kistler is now retired and works on several philanthropic projects, the release says. He says dual-credit scholarships can benefit juniors and seniors with scores to go to college.

“A three-hour class runs $275. And if you’re taking eight classes, all of a sudden that’s a pretty good chunk of change,” Kistler said. The same classes in college could run more than $1,000.

Hart County junior Amy Arce Santamaria is one of the scholarship recipients. She’s currently taking four dual-credit courses, on top of the four she took her sophomore year. Her goal is to eventually be a physician’s assistant.

“It’s helping me get a head start on college and it’s helped me to think about my education without having the finance added to it. It lets me think more about my education before I have to think about the money,” Santamaria said.

Santamaria is following in her brother’s footsteps, the release says, who was a scholarship recipient and is about to start medical school, graduated early from Berea College and had earned 77 college credit hours in high school.

“This is our tenth year and some of the kids have gone through college and started their careers. And they stay in touch,” Kistler said.

The Scholarship Alliance’s co-founder, Melody Chaney, got involved from the very beginning but had no background in education. Instead, she was speaking to Kistler’s gifted and talented students about financial planning as an Edward Jones employee.

“I was always amazed because the kids in those classes were so talented. And I was amazed at how many people we had here that had the ability to do some great things,” Chaney said. “Steve came in my office one day and said ‘I have an idea,’ and I said, ‘I love it.’”

Chaney had worked with a number of students in her financial advisor capacity who had the talent and ability to go to college or vocational schools but would have been first generation college students.

“It’s been amazing how the community has supported us and how easy it’s been to help the students, especially with the dual-credit program,” Chaney said.

When the program started, the dual-credit offerings were slim, but as the Scholarship Alliance funding has grown over time, so too have the number of classes offered to scholarship recipients.

“Those courses are raising the level of curriculum these kids are taking in high school, so now their ACT scores are better, and I’m sure they’re more confident. It’s had a compounding effect,” Chaney said.

“Mr. Kistler is simply irreplaceable in the Hart County community. His passion for helping students achieve higher education has made a lasting impact on many Hart Countians’ lives,” said Abigail Nuetzman, who nominated Kistler.

Kistler explained the genesis of the program as “something that just needed doing.” His decision to step forward and do it continues to impact those throughout Hart County.