Fehr Graham marks 50 years of service in Freeport

FREEPORT. (WIFR) - Engineering and environmental firm Fehr Graham celebrates 50 years of service across the Midwest Friday.

To mark the occasion, Freeport Mayor Jodi Miller declared September 15 as Fehr Graham Day, and honored the company with a key to the city.

Fehr Graham is a firm that specializes in engineering and environmental services ranging from municipal engineering to parks and recreation and so much more. The company prides themselves on improving the quality of life in the communities where their clients live and work.

Allen Fehr and Joseph Graham started the company in Freeport back in 1973. Since its creation, the firm has taken on 12 offices and 200 employees. But that’s not all. CEO Mick Gronewold announced Friday that Fehr Graham will now be offering scholarships to local high school students.

“We do think it’s important to give back to the STEM type organizations and the industry has served us well obviously. We’ve been a business for 50 years and it’s just a way to give back to the next generation that’s coming along to be able to do what we’ve been doing.”

All applicants must be pursuing a career in engineering (water, wastewater, transportation, structural), landscape architecture, land surveying, geology, hydrology and remediation, or environmental health and safety. Eligible students must live within fifty miles of a Fehr Graham office and intend to enroll in the first year of their post-secondary education in the upcoming fall semester.

“It’s not recruiting,” Gronewold says. “It’s more of a giveback, not a recruiting effort, but obviously we hope to build relationships with these young people as they get into STEM organizations. And if we can find a home for them when they graduate, it’s a win-win.”

The scholarship is renewable for up to three years assuming the recipient maintains a 2.8 grade point average and enrolled in an accredited school or training program.

“Fehr Graham scholarships will not only be helping students through the service area achieve their personal goals,” says Dan Ross, president of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois. “But through this program will also be working to address the critical work shortages that most in the industry are experiencing.”

Applications are not open yet, but for more information visit the Community Foundation’s website.

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